International prospect Adama Bal commits to Arizona basketball

The Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball team added another international prospect to its roster Tuesday.

Adama Bal, a 6-foot-6 guard out of Paris, France, committed to the Wildcats largely because of new head coach Tommy Lloyd, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony.

“He recruited me at Gonzaga and offered me the first day on the job at Arizona,” Bal told Givony.

“He showed me how much he wanted me every step of the way. He has a tremendous track record of developing international prospects into NBA players.”

The 17-year-old has spent the past two seasons playing for the French basketball club Centre Fédéral in Paris.

In the 2020 season, Bal averaged 9.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists over 18 games. He posted a career-high six rebounds in one of the team’s last few games on the season, and followed that up with a career-high 23 points in the next matchup.

Bal will be the eighth international player on the Wildcats’ roster that includes Oumar Ballo (Mali), Pelle Larsson (Sweden), Ben Mathuran (Canada/Haiti), Kerr Kriisa (Estonia), Azuolas Tubelis (Lithuania), Tautvilas Tubelis (Lituania) and Christian Koloko (Cameroon).

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