Reggie Chaney, forward on Houston’s 2021 Final Four squad, dead at 23

HOUSTON — Reggie Chaney, a forward on the University of Houston basketball team that reached the Final Four in 2021, has died, the team confirmed on Tuesday. He was 23.

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Chaney was preparing to go overseas to play for AE Psychiko, a pro basketball team based in Athens, Greece, the Houston Chronicle reported. No cause of death was given, according to The Athletic.

According to the Arlington Police Department, a man who was later identified as Chaney was found unresponsive in a bedroom at a home at around noon CDT, KHOU-TV reported. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

“We are heartbroken by the passing of forward Reggie Chaney,” the Houston men’s basketball program tweeted on Tuesday. “#32 will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him.”

A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Chaney played two seasons with the University of Arkansas from 2018 to 2020 and the last three with the Cougars. During the 2022-23 season, he was named the American Athletic Conference’s Sixth Man of the Year, the Chronicle reported.

Chaney averaged 3.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 104 games and started 24 times for the Cougars, according to The Athletic. In his final season, Chaney helped the Cougars to a No. 1 ranking and a top regional seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Chronicle reported.

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson once referred to Chaney as a “security blanket” because he was reliable and could adapt to any role the coach needed, the Chronicle reported.

“Reggie is like that penny (at the convenience store), when you need him, he’s there,” Sampson said.

An investigation is ongoing.