Chris Holtmann announced roster updates on Wednesday about sophomore Fabián Flores and his eligibility. He also shared that freshmen Jonas Johnson and Isaiah Medina will redshirt the 2025-26 season.
Flores, who was originally expected to redshirt the 2025-26 season, is now eligible to play because he received approval from the NCAA for his eligibility waiver. The waiver approval gives him “immediate eligibility,” and he has three years of eligibility left.
FIBA, in a Q&A guide for international players looking into NCAA collegiate basketball, states that “if you’ve played professionally (such as in FIBA-related domestic leagues), you may need a waiver from the NCAA to confirm your eligibility.”
Flores played for Team Spain in the FIBA U20 EuroBasket this year and averaged 7.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks. He played for UCAM Murcia for two seasons in the Basketball Champions League.
Holtmann said that Flores is “not necessarily ready to play long, sustained minutes.” He arrived at DePaul in September.
“He didn’t get here until just recently, so he’s still getting in condition,” Holtmann said. “He’s still learning our system. He missed an entire summer. The plan was always to redshirt him and prepare him for next year.”
Holtmann said that this year is about “preparation for next year.” The approach is “taking it day by day with him” and seeing his progress. He said the team will go from there.
“Now, are there … going to be opportunities as we continue to play games where he grows and can play? Sure, but this really is about using this year for him,” Holtmann said. “He’s still a young player, so this is about him learning our system.”
There was uncertainty about the waiver going through, and that dictated the team’s approach with Flores.
“When you don’t know if the waiver’s gonna go through, you don’t want to take his reps away from NJ, Khaman and guys like Jeremy in practice,” Holtmann said. “So you can do some things to continue to get him in shape, but you’re not gonna take those reps away, because we didn’t know he was gonna be available until just a couple of days ago.”
DePaul men’s basketball will host the Stonehill Skyhawks tomorrow at 7 p.m. for the second game of the regular season. The game follows the Blue Demons’ 92-62 win against Chicago State in the home-opener. This is the first time the Blue Demons and Skyhawks have faced off against each other.
Related stories:
- DePaul men’s basketball lands Fabián Flores Moreno, a 7-2 center from Spain
- Holtmann’s second year with DPU men’s basketball
- DePaul men’s tennis welcomes Alejandro Gandini
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