The UConn men’s basketball team got a commitment last month from Jayden Ross, that the 6-foot-7 forward would be back for his junior season next year.

Now, they’ve got a commitment from another Ross.

Jacob Ross, Jayden’s brother, has committed to the Huskies, according to multiple reports. Jacob is a 6-5 small forward rated as a three-star prospect in the Class of 2025 by 247 Sports and a four-star prospect by ESPN. He committed to Minnesota last October before reopening his recruitment this spring.

Ross played his senior season for SoCal Academy in Castaic, California, about 40 miles outside of Los Angeles. The brothers had played together at Long Island Lutheran in Glen Head, N.Y. before Jacob transferred out west.

Jayden Ross averaged 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds in 11.4 minutes per game for UConn last season. He saw his playing time diminish after initially carving out a role for himself early in the season. Head coach Dan Hurley envisioned a future with Jayden as a defensive stopper, and told reporters in January that he hoped Ross would earn himself more playing time.

“Our defense is not what it’s been. He’s the type of player that could help us,” Hurley said after a UConn win at DePaul on New Year’s Day. “If we could get him into the 20 minutes a game range, with his length and athleticism on the perimeter, he could be a stopper type like we’ve had with (Stephon) Castle, like we had with Andre Jackson.”

With two McDonald’s All-Americans in center Eric Reibe and forward Braylon Mullins coming in next year, UConn has the fourth-ranked incoming freshman class in the country, according to 247Sports. The Huskies also added potential impact players in former Georgia guard Silas Demary Jr., and former Dayton guard Malachi Smith in the transfer portal.

Ross’ addition gives UConn 11 players on next season’s roster, and there is room to add more. Roster limits are expected to expand from 13 to 15 as a result of the impending House v. NCAA settlement, which is awaiting final approval from U.S. District Court judge Claudia Ann Wilken.

Tom Moore, former Huskies assistant who has taken over as the program’s general manager, said the team is looking to be “strategic and creative” in putting together the rest of the roster.

“Obviously a third-string center is something we’ll be targeting,” Moore said earlier this week, before Ross’ commitment. “We’ll be looking for another wing, another combo guard, possibly a combo forward. But we’re trying to be strategic in this new age of potential revenue sharing with finding people who are maybe overlooked in the high school ranks, foreign players, and then maybe under recruited transfers who are still in the portal.”

“We’re looking at these guys as potential people to help us initially in practice, to make sure we have a high-level practice on a day-in and day-out basis, but then also potentially helping us down the road as upside guys. As somebody who could maybe hit for us in year two or year three. We’re hopeful that if we can get this thing to 14 or 15 with bringing some athleticism and some length and some energy into that, it could help alleviate some of the high-minute guys and eliminate some of the wear and tear that they accrue during the course of the season.”

How UConn men’s basketball plans to fill out its 2025-26 roster with pending House settlement

Originally Published: May 9, 2025 at 12:08 PM EDT