Northern Arizona guard Isaiah Shaw (24) drives on Arizona guard Dwayne Aristode during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Rick Scuteri/AP
When Isaiah Shaw first met Dan Hurley while on his recent official visit to UConn, Hurley’s very first question caught him off guard.
“So what’s your deal,” Hurley asked, “are you a mole?”
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Shaw, not acquainted with Hurley’s devilish sense of humor, didn’t know what to say.
“Coach,” he finally responded, “I can be your eyes and ears in the locker room if you want, whatever you need.”
But that’s not what Hurley was inferring.
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“No,” Hurley replied, shaking his head. “Did your uncles put you up to this? Are you scouting us out?”
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Shaw’s uncles are Scott Drew, the national championship-winning head coach at Baylor, and Bryce Drew, head coach at Grand Canyon University. Was Hurley, eternally protective about what information gets out about his program, worried that Shaw might be doing a little recon work for his uncles?
No, he wasn’t worried about that at all. Just that devilish sense of humor shining through again. Shaw quickly realized that Hurley was only kidding, and that he’d love to play for the two-time national champion coach.
On Thursday, Shaw made it official, committing to the Huskies for his sixth and final year of college eligibility.
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“Just super-excited,” Shaw told CT Insider on Thursday evening. “I’m pumped up and can’t wait to get out there. Can’t wait.”
He won’t have to wait long. Shaw, who just finished his redshirt junior year at Northern Arizona and is currently back home in Phoenix, will arrive on campus a week from Saturday in preparation for the Huskies’ first summer workout on June 1. He’s ready to go.
And no, he’s not coming to be Hurley’s locker room mole. Really, just about everything but that.
Shaw is a 6-foot-8 forward with a sweet, left-handed shooting stroke. He began his collegiate career at Grand Canyon, playing for his uncle and his father, Casey, an assistant, and transferred two years ago to Valparaiso, where his grandfather, Homer Drew, was a legendary coach.
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Northern Arizona guard Isaiah Shaw (24) drives on Arizona forward Ivan Kharchenkov during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Rick Scuteri/AP
Last year, Shaw shot a blistering 46.4 percent from 3 at Northern Arizona while averaging 8.1 points per game. But he knows what his role will be in his one season with UConn.
“They want me to be a leader on this team, a veteran, older guy that’s been around the block quite a bit,” Shaw said. “I’ve seen winning teams, I’ve seen losing teams. I know what winning teams need. Being an example for the younger guys is something they thought was very important, whether it’s setting an example in the weight room, going to classes, eating right, all the stuff that contributes to winning.”
He knows he won’t see much playing time, as Alec Millender and Dwayne Koroma knew going into this past season and fellow depth signees Nils Machowski and Jaye Nash surely understand going into this one.
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Of course, anything can happen over the course of the season. Millender could be needed to play key minutes in an NCAA Tournament game. Koroma might log double-digit minutes against Arizona. Both of those scenarios came about this past season.
“They said you never know what can happen in basketball, what can happen on the court,” Shaw noted. “Whatever I can do to help the team win, whether it’s waving a towel on the bench, helping the scout team. And who knows, there might be a time a guy gets hurt, gets into foul trouble, and I’ve got to come in and bang down a shot. I’ve got five years experience. That’s something I do very well.”
After redshirting his freshman season at Grand Canyon and earning a medical redshirt the following year due to injury, he appeared in 32 games, all off the bench, in 2023-24. He transferred to Valparaiso the following season and played 33 games, all but three off the bench.
Shaw’s 3-point shooting was hardly stellar over those two seasons, a combined 31.6 percent. He transferred to Northern Arizona last season and spent countless hours, nearly every day, working on his shot with assistant coach Tim Russo, the former UConn graduate assistant. He wound up starting 22 of 29 games for NAU and hit a blistering 32 of 69 3-pointers — the exact same percentage he shot on 2-pointers (32-for-69).
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Ultimately, that’s not what Shaw is coming to UConn for.
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO – OCTOBER 30: Isaiah Shaw #24 of the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks and Luke Haupt #3 of the New Mexico Lobos fight for rebounding position during the second half of an exhibition game at The Pit on October 30, 2025 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Lobos defeated the Lumberjacks 64-54. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images)
Sam Wasson/Getty Images
“Being my last year, my sixth year of college basketball — which sounds crazy to say — I’ve learned a lot over my career,” Shaw said. “The best years I remember having were years we won.”
In Shaw’s second year at GCU, the Antelopes won 30 games and got to the NCAA Tournament, upsetting Saint Mary’s in the first round before falling to Alabama.
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“That was the best year of my life, it was so much fun, because we won,” he recalled. “I wanted to play in a winning program, a high-major where I could learn as much as I can, soak in as much as I can for after I play. I plan to get into coaching after my playing career is done. When UConn contacted, it was done. What better place to learn to grow and be part of a winning team than UConn?”
And while Shaw has lived in Arizona for most of his life, he has plenty of ties to UConn besides Russo. First contacted by director of player development Mamadou Diarra, Shaw later got a text from grad assistant Connor Creech, who played with Shaw’s younger brother, Caleb, at Northern Colorado and further sold him on the Huskies.
Also, Shaw’s father played overseas for a season in Italy with UConn assistant Mike Nardi.
“The basketball world got a lot smaller coming here than even I expected,” he said.
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In a little over a week, the final chapter of Isaiah Shaw’s basketball odyssey kicks off in Storrs, in a variety of capacities: veteran leader, towel-waver, scout team stud — and maybe even to bang down a shot off the bench every once in a while.
But not as Dan Hurley’s locker room mole.