STORRS, Conn. — A key piece of the 2024 UConn Men’s Basketball national championship team announced on Tuesday evening that he will return to Storrs for one more season.
Hassan Diarra, a 6-foot-2 guard from Queens, N.Y., will exercise his fifth and final year of eligibility to remain a member of the Huskies for the 2024-2025 season and pursue a three-peat.
Last season, Diarra was named the Big East Conference’s Sixth Man of the Year and played a critical role for UConn coming off the bench, as the team won its second consecutive national title.
Diarra announced the news of his return to the team on Instagram, simply noting, “I’m back.”
In 2023-2024, Diarra averaged 6.1 points, 3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game as one of the first players off the bench each night for the Huskies. In 19.4 minutes of action per game, he nearly registered a steal per contest and shot 35.7% from three-point range.
When the offense was struggling in the early stages of the national title game against Purdue, Diarra was a catalyst, scoring from both beyond the arc and at the hoop. He ended the game with 9 points.
In the Elite 8, Diarra was even more effective, shooting 83.3% from the field en route to scoring 11 points. He also contributed 10 points in the Huskies’ Sweet 16 victory over San Diego State.
Diarra, a product of the Putnam Science Academy in Putnam, Conn., spent his first two seasons playing in College Station, Texas at Texas A&M. He transferred to UConn ahead of the 2022-2023 season, linking up in Storrs with his brother Mamadou Diarra, who is UConn’s Director of Player Development.
Although Diarra’s playing time was limited during UConn’s 2023 national title run, he still has a ring to show for it. In 2023-2024, Diarra performed all over the court, showing flashes of defensive brilliance, as he recorded 33 steals and 24 blocks, both career highs.
Entering the 2024-2025 season, he will battle incoming freshman guard Ahmad Nowell and junior Aidan Mahaney, a transfer from Saint Mary’s, for a spot in the starting five. Head coach Dan Hurley may be most comfortable returning Diarra to the sixth man role, where he thrived last season.
Regardless, as one of the oldest players on the team, Diarra will be looked to as a leader on and off the court.
Moving forward, UConn has two remaining scholarships open for next season after adding five-star recruit Liam McNeeley and transfer prospect Mahaney in the past five days, complimenting the addition of forward/center Tarris Reed Jr. from Michigan and incoming four-star freshman guard Nowell and four-star freshman forward Isaiah Abraham.
The team will look to continue adding, although UConn is likely to leave a spot open in case star forward Alex Karaban drops out of the NBA Draft and elects to come back to Storrs.
----
Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
----
Do you have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com.
