{"id":164215,"date":"2025-10-26T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T12:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=164215"},"modified":"2025-10-25T19:33:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T23:33:03","slug":"uconn-junior-forward-set-for-increased-playing-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/10\/26\/uconn-junior-forward-set-for-increased-playing-time\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Junior Forward Set for Increased Playing Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Braylon Mullins<\/a> suffered an ankle injury this week that will sideline him for six weeks. A junior UConn forward is set for an increased role.<\/p>\n

UConn Junior Forward Set for Increased Playing Time<\/h2>\n

Mullins suffered an ankle injury during practice early in the week. The five-star recruit was set to have an immediate impact for the Huskies<\/a>. However, Mullins is set to miss the next six weeks and will likely not return until UConn begins conference play. This season, UConn has one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the country. Mullins will miss multiple marquee matchups, such as Florida and BYU, but UConn has a high-upside option to step up in his absence.<\/p>\n

Jaylin Stewart<\/a> is entering his third season with the Huskies. There was some concern about Stewart possibly transferring after last season, but Stewart remains committed to wearing the UConn jersey. Despite not getting a single start as a freshman, he was an integral piece to the Huskies winning their second straight national championship. Stewart only started 12 games last season, but he showed glimpses of the type of player he can be. The next step for him will be to show more consistency, especially on defense.<\/p>\n

Stewart has promising upside for the Huskies<\/h3>\n

Listed at 6-foot-7, Stewart is a promising two-way wing<\/a> that could really flourish for the Huskies in an expanded role. Stewart made significant improvements as a three-point shooter from his freshman season, shooting 36.4% from three last year. One of the biggest areas that UConn needs to improve this season will be three-point shooting; however, Stewart should add a very reliable presence in that department. Stewart is also very capable of getting to the rim off the dribble. In a recent exhibition with Boston College, Stewart had seven points and three rebounds and looked very comfortable despite the team missing two starters.<\/p>\n

The biggest area that will decide Stewart’s ceiling this upcoming season will be his defensive performances. Given his size and athleticism, Stewart has all the physical tools required to be an elite defender. He showed some promise there in his previous seasons but was largely inconsistent. Earlier this month, Dan Hurley talked about Stewart<\/a> being one of the guys that needs to emerge on the defensive end. Last season, UConn still had a top-15-ranked offense<\/a> but finished 75th on defense<\/a>\u00a0according to the KenPom rankings, a far cry from past elite defenses under Hurley.<\/p>\n

The Verdict<\/h3>\n

Despite losing Braylon Mullins to injury, the UConn Huskies still remain one of the deepest teams in the country and should still be a Big East frontrunner. UConn’s non-conference schedule was already very difficult, but the Mullins injury means that more guys must step up. Jaylin Stewart has shown in his past seasons with the Huskies that he is full of upside, and he could be ready for a breakout season. If Stewart impresses as a starter early in the season, UConn is a legitimate title threat.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Zachary Taft-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Braylon Mullins suffered an ankle injury this week that will sideline him for six weeks. A junior UConn forward is set for an increased role. UConn Junior Forward Set for Increased Playing Time Mullins suffered an ankle injury during practice early in the week. The five-star recruit was set to have an immediate impact for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5629,"featured_media":164245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773],"tags":[1744],"class_list":["post-164215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","tag-uconn-huskies"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5629"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164215"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164246,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164215\/revisions\/164246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}