NBA Draft: 3 Under-the-Radar Freshman Prospects Star on Wednesday

Less than a month into the 2025-26 NCAA basketball season, the current campaign has already been an exciting one.

In addition to a handful of high profile matchup between major college basketball brands like Michigan State and Kentucky or North Carolina and Kansas, the nation's top players have already delivered impressive performances.

Players like AJ Dybantsa, Koa Peat, Cameron Boozer, Mikel Brown Jr. and others have been amongst the best freshman in the country, as expected, but a few forst-year players who garnered less attention coming into the season have turned heads early on.

Here are three solid Wednesday-night performances from players who could work their way into the 2026 NBA Draft.

Jalen Haralson, Notre Dame

Haralson helped the Fighitng Irish to an 86-79 win against Bellarmine with 16 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds and 1 turnover.

Coming out of high school, Haralson was rated the No. 18 overall recruit and No. 4 small forward in the 2025 class, per 247Sports. Listed at 6-foot-7 and 220 pounds, Haralson has good size on the wing and has shown the abillity to be a solid playmaker.

Four games into his college career, Haralson is averaging 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 54.3% from the field.

Kayden Mingo, Penn State

Coming out of Long Island Lutheran, Mingo was rated the No. 34 overall recruit and No. 4 combo guard in the 2025 class by 247Sports.

So far, the Nittany Lions' guard has lived up to his positioning, helping Penn State to an 84-80 win against Harvard on Wednesday night with 24 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, a steal and 0 turnovers.

Listed at 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds, Mingo is averaging 17 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 50% from the field and 18.2% from beyond the arc.

Eric Reibe, UConn

Originally from Germany, Reibe joined Connecticut's roster after attending the Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland.

Listed at 7-foot-1 and 260 pounds, Reibe was rated the No. 36 overall player and No. 5 center in the 2025 recruiting class, according to 247Sports. On Wednesday, the freshman had the best game of his breif college career In a 71-67 loss to Arizona.

Reibe notched a team-high 15 points to go along with 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and 0 turnovers, shooting 2-of-5 from 3-point range in the loss.

If Reibe continues to carve out a significant role for the Huskies, he could follow a similar path to former UConn big man Donovan Clingan, who spent two years in school before being a top-10 pick.

Clingan is a similar size and stature to Clingan, and was ranked in the same range coming out of high school.

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