Despite a heartbreaking NCAA championship loss, UConn's Tarris Reed Jr. shared his profound Christian faith with an Athletes in Action crowd, finding peace and purpose in Jesus.



Less than one day after walking off the court following a devastating loss in the NCAA national title game, one of Connecticut’s top players was standing in front of an Athletes in Action crowd this week, testifying to his faith in Christ.

UConn’s Tarris Reed Jr. finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds in the Huskies’ 69-63 loss to Michigan Monday night in the men’s basketball championship – but didn’t let the heartache get in the way of him sharing his faith.

Reed, a senior center who led the team in scoring (14.7 ppg.) and rebounds (9.0 rpg.) this season, spoke Tuesday afternoon at an Athletes in Action gathering, sharing how he found purpose and peace in Jesus and how his faith deepened during his freshman year away from home.

“It’s been one of the hardest, yet most peaceful and freeing stretches of my life,” he wrote. “Coming to terms with the fact that the college basketball journey I’ve been chasing since I was a little kid is over hurts. Losing the biggest game of my entire basketball career hurts. Knowing how hard I worked and the sacrifices I made just to be in that position, and still coming up short, it hurts. At the same time, I’m reminded to be content in every situation. Looking back at the game, I know I gave it my all, but I still see the mistakes I made. I want to be better. I tend to be a perfectionist, but only Jesus was perfect. So it’s been tough wrestling with that.

“After everything, flying back and moving on from the game, I felt like Jesus put it on my heart to go to an Athletes in Action meeting and even to speak. I didn’t want to speak. We got back late, around 5 PM, and the meeting was at 7, so I barely had time to prepare anything. But I told myself I would let the Holy Spirit speak through me.”

Reed added he was glad he went, especially after what he witnessed Tuesday night, when two members of the women’s team were baptized.

“It was truly a blessing,” he wrote.

Reed told the Athletes in Action meeting that he grew up in a Christian home, yet his faith didn’t become real until his freshman year, when his strength coach asked him a simple question, curious if he was reading his Bible.

“And I told him no, and he told me to read the four first books of the New Testament, which are the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,” Reed told those gathered.

He added, “I started learning about who Jesus was.”

Christ’s warnings about sin and judgment, he said, led him to tears.

“I started to understand who this Jesus guy was – I started really building a relationship,” Reed said. “He helped me – the way I walk, the way I talk, the way I act, the way I treat people – learning really how to serve.”

He realized he had made basketball an idol in his life, and he needed to worship God alone, he said.

“He’s just changed my life,” Reed said.

Reed said he was inspired this year by the testimony of High Point’s Chase Johnston, an outspoken Christian who led his team to an upset win in the first round of the tournament. He met Johnston in person at the Final Four, and the two men stayed up the night before the semifinal game simply “talking about the Lord.”

“He told me that … he was so detached from winning or losing, he's just focused on, ‘What can I do to proclaim the gospel?’”

Reed encouraged those in attendance to center their lives on Christ above everything else.

Jesus “changed my life, and I want Him to change and touch everybody's lives in here.”

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