BYU Basketball Lands Commitment From Tanzania Native Atiki Ally Atiki
Feb 15, 2021, 6:55 PM | Updated: 7:04 pm
Photo Courtesy of BYU Athletics
PROVO, Utah – There’s no shortage of size and talent for BYU basketball in the years to come. The latest addition is 6-foot-11 forward/center Atiki Ally Atiki from Tanzania.
Atiki made his commitment to BYU on Monday, according to JUCO Advocate’s Brandon Goble. Ally Atiki was sharing Goble’s announcement via his personal Instagram stories.
Excited to announce that 6’11 F Atiki Ally Atiki of @lbahoops has committed to @BYUbasketball – From Mwanza Tanzania originally, Atiki has spent the last two years playing for Coach Provenzano in London Ontario Canada. Has been quite the journey for the young man. pic.twitter.com/vmN5Ow9o5K
— JUCOadvocate (@JUCOadvocate) February 16, 2021
Atiki was a first-team selection in the NPA last season, where he averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds. The NPA has not been in action this year due to the novel Coronavirus pandemic.
Scary hours😟
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Atiki Ally Atiki been in the lab getting his game right for his senior season 👀
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Coming off a 17ppg & 11rpg campaign the Tanzanian product is just scratching the surface of what’s to come 🇹🇿📈 pic.twitter.com/oqmNxHXCX9— NPA (@NPACanada) June 10, 2020
Along with BYU, Atiki held offers from San Diego State and Oklahoma. He also received interest from Kansas, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Arizona State, and others.
Name: Atiki Ally Atiki
School: London Basketball Academy
Height: 6’10
Position: C
Grad Year: 2021
Rating: 4🍁 pic.twitter.com/DhdeAO9xsr— Wes Brown (@wesblairbrown) October 27, 2020
The 6-foot-11 Atiki can sign with BYU on April 14, when the regular signing period begins.
Atiki is now the third player in the 2021 BYU basketball recruiting class. The others include in-state prospects Fousseyni Traore from Wasatch Academy and Timpview High forward Jake Wahlin. Wahlin is expected to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before enrolling at BYU.
Next season, Atiki steps into a BYU frontcourt that will lose Purdue transfer Matt Haarms. Haarms told the media before this season that he doesn’t plan to take advantage of the NCAA’s free year of eligibility after this season.
Since Mark Pope became the head coach of BYU basketball in 2019, Atiki is the fourth player over 6-feet-10-inches that Pope has landed to come to BYU (Haarms, Wyatt Lowell, Richard Harward).
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m., KSL Newsradio). Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper and the KSL Sports app.
