Forward Ayanna Patterson will not be returning to the UConn women’s basketball team for the 2026-27 season, deciding instead to enter the transfer portal.

The portal opened Tuesday.

The 6-foot-2 Patterson enrolled at UConn as a top prospect in the Class of 2022 after a decorated career at Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Ind. ESPN ranked her as the No. 4 recruit in the class as she averaged 25.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in her senior season. She was a 2022 McDonald's, Jordan Brand and SLAM All-American, as well as Indiana Miss Basketball that year.

In 2021, Patterson won a gold medal for USA Basketball as part of the 3x3 U18 World Cup team.

As a freshman in the 2022-23 season, Patterson appeared in 30 games and averaged 2.2 points, and 2.2 rebounds and 10 minutes per game.

Her UConn career was derailed, however, by patellar tendinitis in the 2023-24 season. Surgery for a shoulder injury cost her the following season.

She already has graduated from UConn and took part in the Senior Day festivities last month. Still, because of the injuries, she will have two years of remaining eligibility at another school.

Patterson likely will land at a program that can provide more playing time. While she appeared in 30 games this season, she averaged just five minutes, 1.7 points and 1.4 rebounds.

The starting UConn frontcourt spots for next season undoubtedly already have the names of Sarah Strong, a winner of multiple national player of the year awards, and sophomore-to-be Blanca Quinonez penciled in. Olivia Vukosa, a 6-5 center who was named the Gatorade Girls National Player of the Year, also will be joining the Huskies as a freshman.

On3’s Joe Tipton reported Tuesday that St. Mary’s center Paulius Murauskas entered the portal after a first-team All-West Coast Conference season. Longtime St. Mary’s coach Randy Bennett recently departed for the head coaching job at Arizona State, and it’s possible Murauskas could follow him.

But On3 said it isn’t a done deal.

“Other schools to know are Louisville, St. Mary’s, UConn, Kentucky, and Oregon,” Tipton wrote.

The Huskies are going to need an experienced big man to replace the graduating Tarris Reed Jr. and to work in tandem with Eric Riebe. Murauskas is a 6-foot-8, 235-pound junior from Lithuania who averaged 18.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game in the 2025-26 season.

He began his career as a freshman with one season at Arizona.

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