Frances and Mike Uzan gathered around their computer to watch their son, Milos, in his second media appearance since joining Oklahoma basketball.
Milos Uzan, their youngest son and a Sooners freshman, scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds against West Virginia on Jan. 14.
He answered a question about making free-throws at OU’s latest game with a slight chuckle, joking, “I missed both of mine, but it’s cool, though.”
“We just laughed at that interview,” Frances Uzan said. “That’s just him, he’s always like that. He just kind of laughed it off because he's just like, ‘whatever’; and the thing is, we never know when he's sad, or when something bothers him. He always just still has a little smile on his face.”
The freshman guard has found a primary role in a frustrating season for Oklahoma (15-16, 5-13 Big 12). He’s used his quiet, humble confidence to carve out a significant starting role in the Sooners’ backcourt.
This season, he’s gained invaluable experience competing at Allen Fieldhouse, helping capture OU's win in Lubbock by scoring 18 points and guiding the Sooners’ backcourt alongside senior guard Grant Sherfield.
As the Sooners gear up to play Oklahoma State (17-14, 8-10) in the play-in round of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City on Wednesday, the quiet, cool and confident Milos Uzan awaits an opportunity to become OU’s primary contributor next season.
Nothing has fazed Milos Uzan in his first year. “Los” was thrown into the starting lineup on Dec. 6 and is averaging 7.5 points and three assists per game, while shooting 39.7% from 3-point range.
In OU coach Porter Moser’s eyes, Milos Uzan is no longer a freshman, despite what shows up on the scouting report. He’s averaging 28.5 minutes per game this season, the Sooners’ third-highest total on the team.
“Los — I gave him (advice) — I talked to him about not deferring,” Moser said. “If you’re bringing the ball up the (court) — and there's a couple times he brought it up and then he was kind of deferring to Grant or someone else to get us into something.
“I’m like, ‘Man, you're not a freshman anymore. You know, you’ve got the ball in your hands a lot. Grant has the ball in his hands a lot. Don’t be afraid to lead. Take your voice. I think I wanted to give him a little more confidence and authority to lead.’”
Despite the pressure, Uzan has carried himself with a blend of sneaky confidence and relaxed competitiveness. He possesses an array of slippery playmaking skills, dynamic finishing ability and an improving 3-point jump shot.
He knows where he has to get better next season, as he prepares to take on a bigger role with the potential departures of starters Grant Sherfield, Jalen Hill and Tanner Groves.
“He's just so smiley about everything,” Frances Uzan said. “Milos is very confident about himself … After every game we see him get more and more comfortable in his role.”
Freshman guard Milos Uzan during the game against Texas Tech on Feb. 21
“He was always watching”
An indoor mini-hoop hangs on a closet door in the Uzan household.
Nowadays it sits untouched, but it used to be the victim of intense contests between Milos and his older brother Capri Uzan, a senior guard at Westcliff College, an NAIA school in Irvine, California. The pair would wad up socks and shoot it through the hoop or stage dunk contests.
Milos Uzan has always looked up to his older brother.
“That was more of a little kid activity,” Milos Uzan told OU Daily. “The hoop is about 6-foot-5, probably my height now. We've always had a dunk contest with each other there. We play football in the hallway with our little helmets on. And so it was kind of just a competitive thing that we always did. It was pretty fun.”
The Uzan family has a history of competitiveness and athletics. Julian Jacobs, Uzan’s half brother, played for USC from 2013-16 and had stints in the G League for the South Bay Lakers. Haley Uzan, Uzan’s sister, played volleyball, ran track and competed in gymnastics in high school.
The four siblings were always in the gym alongside their father, Mike Uzan, who coached Jacobs, Capri and Uzan at El Dorado High School from 2007-11 and Desert Pines High School shortly after that.
“He brought out all of their, like, competitive edges,” Haley Uzan said. “Then going home and being able to talk things over to and setting up like the kitchen table, that helped as well.
“He coached us our whole life. I think that had a big impact because we were always in the gym, I think just always being around his brother also impacted that a lot. He always has the ball in his hand. We couldn't really pick it out, either.”
Milos Uzan, the youngest of the four, used to analyze his siblings’ performances from the sideline.
He’d mimic the coaching staff by wearing a suit, similar to those of his dad. During games he’d run onto the court and try and make a shot during timeouts. And, when he wasn’t on the court, he was with Capri and Haley.
“It was more of Los just watching his older brothers,” Frances said. “He was always just watching. He was always on the bench, no matter what team they played for.
“And it's funny because he was always into it. There’s always Gatorade and water everywhere. He’d have a big water stain on his T-shirt. And Cap has the jersey on with the ball and they both just, like, cheesing like you wouldn't believe.”
Milos Uzan fostered a competitive, loving relationship with his brother growing up. The two played video games, went to dinner and played one-on-one in the house on the mini breakaway hoop.
Frances Uzan describes Capri as the pit bull of the pair, whereas Milos was a more humble and quiet brother. The duo once argued about who is the better player, and the now-freshman guard said he was better because of his soft, cool confidence.
“They were talking about a play or something,” Frances Uzan said. “Milos said I'm better than you and then he said I'm better than you because, in your mental game, you get pissed off real quick.’ And then it was kind of quiet. Then it got quiet because that was true. Sometimes Cap may be a little bit more upset than Milos.”
Milos and Capri Uzan still share the same bond despite being 1,342 miles apart. The freshman guard will play video games such as Madden and NBA 2K with him in his free time, talking the same trash they once did in person.
For them it’s all love, however.
“His competitive edge comes from hanging out with Capri and having a bigger brother that pushes you to be better all the time,” Haley said. “He's extremely humble. He held his head high all the time. We can't really tell when he's down-and-out or when he's not feeling something, and he just carries himself with so much poise.”
Freshman guard Milos Uzan during the game against Kansas on Feb 11.
“He would hang with them”
When Mike Uzan coached Desert Pines High School, the school hosted the Houston Rockets each NBA Summer League.
Mike Uzan developed a close relationship with John Lucas II, a former NBA player who has coached the Rockets since 2016.
It was the perfect opportunity for Uzan, giving him a one-on-one look at what it takes to be a top-level NBA player for more than a decade. Every summer, in the dead heat of the NBA Summer League, the guard had the opportunity to watch and compete against players like John Wall Jr., Jalen Green and others.
The Sooners guard originally worked as a ball boy, but as he hit a massive growth spurt, eclipsing the height of 6-foot-1 his freshman year of high school, Lucas allowed Milos Uzan to start working in drills and scrimmages alongside other Rockets players.
His work with top-tier NBA lineage paid off down the road. Rockets coach Stephen Silas, the 14th head coach in the franchise’s history, was even impressed with Milos’ ability to hang with his players.
“He would hang with them,” Mike Uzan said. “Coach Silas, he knows Los real well. When they brought guys in they would have Los workout against them. Stuff like that. He was good, man. I mean, it's phenomenal. I couldn't ask for anything more. I mean, John would put him against some of the best pros.”
Lucas didn’t care if Milos was too small, either. The tenured NBA assistant threw him in the fire and made him figure it out, much like Moser did with the freshman guard this season.
Frances Uzan would ask Milos about some of the top-level talent he’d play against, which would prompt a Google search from his mother. Once she learned of the players’ credentials, she was shocked her son was handling the situation with such confidence.
“If I didn't know him, then (he'd) Google them up, so I can see who he's talking about,” Frances said. “I don't even know the word to describe it. He's just so mellow and calm. And just ... smiley, smiley. Like, just because this big (NBA guy) was there, like it's no big thing.”
His summers facing off against NBA talent paid off two years later when Milos Uzan's high school season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Las Vegas native made the decision to play for Prolific Prep and Dream City Christian his junior and senior years of high school, respectively.
The four-star guard made the decision to leave his parents and join a host family in Glendale, Arizona. There, he faced more top NBA talent like Shaedon Sharpe, a top-15 NBA draft pick and rookie standout for the Portland Trail Blazers.
The winning pedigree caught the eye of many coaches, including Porter Moser.
"The first time I saw him, I loved what I saw," Moser said of Uzan. "In high school, he won when he played for his dad. Those were all big factors for me. ... That winning pedigree is such a foundation moving forward with this recruitment."
Freshman guard Milos Uzan during the game against Kansas on Feb 11.
“I can’t applaud him enough”
While playing at Dream City Christian in Glendale, Uzan struggled with deciding where he’d attend college.
The four-star guard, debating over schools such as Utah, Oklahoma, UNLV and UCLA, reached out to his family for advice.
“Guys,” the text he sent in their group chat read, “Where should I go to college?”
There was dead silence from every family member, until his mom finally replied. He made the decision to leave Las Vegas and live without his family two years earlier, and she wanted him to do the same thing with his college decision.
“There were almost like crickets on the text message because we're like, ‘Dude this is up to you.’” Frances Uzan said. “His whole rate of reasoning was like, 'If I don't stay on the West Coast ... are you guys gonna be able to come see me?’ And we're like, ‘Dude, wherever you go; we'll come see you. It doesn't matter.’ And I didn't realize he was wanting Oklahoma.”
Finally, after weeks of deliberating, Uzan chose to go with Moser and the Sooners. His decision was rooted in OU’s ability to create a relationship with him.
Former Oklahoma assistant coach K.T. Turner, who’s now an assistant at Kentucky, talked to him while he was playing video games. He didn’t ask about his decision, rather the game he was playing.
Other schools were focused on the impact he’d make with their program, trying to ask him for an immediate commitment.
“Other schools were asking when he was going to commit,” Frances Uzan said. “I guess if K.T. called, they would talk about video games. He considered him more of a brother.”
Now with the Sooners, Milos Uzan will likely be a primary contributor to Moser’s system next season, alongside freshman guard Otega Oweh and four-star signees Kaden Cooper and Jacolb Cole.
“He's so focused,” Frances Uzan said. “He's going to class and he's not partying hard. … I can't applaud him enough for his mindset.”
This story was edited by Austin Curtright and Colton Sulley. Grace Rhodes copy edited this story.
