Freshman forward Liam McNeeley announced Tuesday that he has declared for the NBA Draft following one season with the UConn men’s basketball team.
McNeeley is a projected lottery pick in the upcoming draft, set to take place June 25, for good reason. The 19-year-old took phenom took Storrs by storm in his lone season with the Huskies, averaging 14.5 points, 6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game through 24 games played. Despite a high ankle sprain that sidelined the Texas native for the entire month of January, McNeeley still took home the Big East Freshman of the Year award and All-Big East Third team honors.
Skills will translate seamlessly to today’s NBA and his character is absolutely elite…work ethic…super competitive…great teammate…wants to be coached…desperately wants to win…confident yet humble. Good Luck my man…it was a pleasure coaching you! https://t.co/UwIVykf7ZB
— Dan Hurley (@dhurley15) April 1, 2025
His best performance of the season came Feb. 11 against Creighton, when McNeeley recorded a 38-point double-double with 10 rebounds to hand the Blue Jays their only home loss of the year.
Mock drafts have placed the forward anywhere as high as the 10th pick and as low as the 16th pick. Both Bleacher Report and CBS Sports’ most recent mock drafts have McNeeley taken with the 16th pick to the San Antonio Spurs. This would send McNeeley back to his home state and set him up with fellow former Husky Steph Castle. ESPN’s latest draft projections, done before March Madness kicked off, has McNeeley going No. 14 to the Atlanta Hawks.
McNeeley’s departure from the program, mixed in with today’s news of Aidan Mahaney’s intent to enter the transfer portal, brings UConn up to six scholarship openings ahead of the 2025-26 season.
The announcements from McNeeley and Mahaney leave the decisions of four players from last year’s team still unknown. Alex Karaban, who has one year of NCAA eligibility remaining, is a projected late first round, early second round NBA Draft pick, while Solo Ball, Tarris Reed and Jayden Ross’ have all not yet announced publicly if they will return to the team next season.