Official: BYU Basketball Lands 2021 Tanzanian Big Man Atiki Ally Atiki

BYU has landed 2021 Tanzanian big man Atiki Ally Atiki, according to multiple reports. Jeff Goodman had it first and JUCO Advocate and London Basketball Academy confirmed the commitment.

Atiki committed to BYU coaches Monday afternoon right before practice — we profiled Atiki on Vanquish the Foe earlier today. Atiki committed over Zoom and had his family, including his grandma (!), on the Zoom call.

BYU landed Atiki over scholarship offers from West Virginia, Oklahoma, and San Diego State, among others. Michigan State had recently shown more interest and Baylor was recruiting him as well.

Coaches have been on Atiki for several months now and, ultimately, recruited him better than other schools. Once of the final things that won Atiki over was putting him in touch with Nigeria native Gideon George. BYU coaches also showed him Gideon George’s True Blue feature done by BYUtv — BYU’s family atmosphere and “Best Locker Room in America” mantra both won over Atiki, according to one source. Another source outside of the program but close to Atiki indicated that BYU worked “HARD — like really really hard” and sold BYU and the team as his “second family”.

Atiki is a 6-foot-10 or 6-foot-11 (depending on who you ask), 235 pounds big man with a 7-foot-2 wingspan. Rivals rates him as a 3-Star prospect but Atiki has largely flown under the radar. According to Brandon Goble at JUCO Advocate, his organization found him in 2017 in Tanzania and they helped bring him over to London Basketball Academy in December 2018. Atiki lived in a stone hut in a city called Mwanza and “kicked the crap out everyone” during his first games in October 2019 at LBA. Atiki’s team has yet to play this season but they are hoping to start their season this week.

Atiki came over as a raw prospect but has developed both his body and game. Below is his body transformation in less than three years.

Atiki has great athleticism for his size and projects to be an elite rebounder and shot blocker. The below clip is small taste of his athleticism.

Atiki is BYU’s third signee for BYU in this class along with Jake Wahlin and Fousseyni Traore. Atiki and Traore will both join the team next season while Wahlin will first serve a LDS mission.

You can watch Atiki’s highlights below: