Tarris Reed Jr. is giving UConn the kind of postseason force that can swing a title run. The 6-foot-10, 265-pound senior center is carrying the Huskies as they chase their third national title in the last four seasons, and he was set to do it again Monday night against Michigan, the school he left after his first two college seasons.
Reed’s tournament line has been relentless. He scored 31 points and grabbed 27 rebounds against Furman in UConn’s first NCAA Tournament game, becoming the first player since Elvin Hayes in 1968 to post a 30-point, 25-rebound game in March Madness. He followed that by leading UConn in scoring in four of its five postseason games and averaged 20.8 points and 13 rebounds through the first five rounds. Against Illinois in the Final Four, he added 17 points and 11 rebounds, a steady showing that kept UConn moving when the stakes were highest.
For UConn’s staff, this has not come out of nowhere. Associate head coach Kimani Young said a dunk by Reed against Penn State in the 2024 Big Ten tournament immediately caught the coaches’ attention, the kind of play that made them stop and look harder. “That just kind of jumped off at us,” Young said. He added that when a player with that raw talent arrives, “we don’t know what he can become.”
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That evaluation has turned into production. UConn graduate assistant Rich Kelly said Reed arrived with broad tools but not much polish. “When he first came here, he had a lot of width to his game — he could do a lot of things — but he didn’t have a lot of depth,” Kelly said. “The coaches really helped him understand where he could be great — and truly great, which is not a word to use for every single player.”
Coach Dan Hurley has said the season depends on Reed. “Our season is going to be determined by what Tarris Reed does, which Tarris Reed we get, does the light switch go on for Tarris Reed,” Hurley said, adding, “I’ve been saying it for months and months and months.” That kind of belief now looks justified. Michigan coach Dusty May said Reed has “put on a show in this tournament” and that “He deserves the success.”
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The matchup with Michigan carried extra weight because Reed began his college career there before transferring to UConn. He had already drawn the Huskies’ eyes during the 2024 Big Ten tournament, and now he is the center of a team one win away from another banner. For UConn, Reed is no longer just a player it identified from a short film clip. He is the reason the Huskies are still playing for a championship.
