diff --git a/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestKnnGraph.java b/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestKnnGraph.java
index 034b4e3f0d3..b6b43fa8b7b 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestKnnGraph.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestKnnGraph.java
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ public class TestKnnGraph extends LuceneTestCase {
 
   private static final String KNN_GRAPH_FIELD = "vector";
 
-  private static int maxConn;
+  private static int maxConn = HnswGraphBuilder.DEFAULT_MAX_CONN;
 
   @Before
   public void setup() {