As we approach the new year and conference play we are able to look at how the season has gone so far. One of the more notable things is how good some of the international freshmen have been. Basketball is a global game and these guys are even more proof of that.
International Freshmen Who Have Shined So Far
Kasparas Jakucionis
While this article is about the top international freshmen so far, Illinois’ Kasparas Jakucionis is making a case for being one of the best freshmen period. The guard from Vilnius, Lithuania is averaging 16.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.4 steals per game so far this season. He is eleventh in the Big Ten in points, fifth in assists, and eighteenth in steals. Jakucionis has come just short of a triple-double on two separate occasions already, against SIU-Edwardsville in his second collegiate game and against Northwestern.
Tomislav Ivisic – Illinois
Croatian big man Tomislav Ivisic has been almost as great as his aforementioned Lithuanian teammate. He’s already racked up six double-doubles. His average stat-line of 13.9 PPG, 9.7 RPG, & 1.8 BPG is up there with the best freshmen in the nation. That rebounding number not only leads all Division 1 freshmen by a good margin (1 whole rebound more per game than LSU’s Corey Chest) but is also second overall in the Big Ten. He’s played great against better competition too, as his best game came against Arkansas when he had 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks in a win over the Razorbacks.
Egor Demin – BYU
Egor Demin is a 6’8″ combo guard from Moscow. He has missed BYU’s last three games due to a knee contusion that he suffered early in their game against Providence. But before that he had been playing great basketball. He’s averaging 13.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.6 steals, & 0.8 blocks per game thus far. Demin is the Cougars’ leading scorer and that assists number ranks first in the Big 12.
Samet Yigitoglu – SMU
Samet Yigitoglu was ranked one spot higher in 247 Sports’ recruiting rankings than Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears, who has been awesome for the Sooners so far this season. Yigitoglu is averaging a very respectable 10.5 PPG, 5.8 RPG, & 1.1 BPG for the Mustangs. The 7’2″ Center from Istanbul has also had his best game against Power 5 competition. That includes a double-double against 10-3 Washington State in the Acrisure Holiday Invitational championship game.
Gabriel Pozzato – Evansville
Evansville is off to a bad start this season. But it is in no way because of Gabriel Pozzato. The Italian came out swinging. On opening night in his first collegiate game, Pozzato dropped 28 points on a suffocating North Texas defense (a defense that currently ranks second in the nation in scoring defense and has only allowed three other players to score 20+ points through 12 games this season). His 15.4 points per game average is 14th among all D1 freshmen and is fifth overall in the Missouri Valley. He also ranks near the top of both of those with 1.8 steals per game. Perhaps what’s most impressive is that, unlike all the other players on this list, he was not a very well-known or highly-rated recruit.
Khaman Maluach – Duke
Khaman Maluach hasn’t been amazing this year. The 5-star top 5 recruit from South Sudan hasn’t put up big numbers yet but has played very well and filled his role. He plays 18.6 minutes per game, which is seventh on the team. Outside of Maluach and Cooper Flagg, Duke doesn’t have a ton of size that plays significant minutes. That’s where Maluach has filled his role nicely on the interior. He’s also currently coming off of arguably his best game of the season when he had 15 points, 8 rebounds, and a block at Georgia Tech on the 21st.
Others
My list does not include any players who were born in other countries but played High School basketball in the United States. Those players include 5-star recruits VJ Edgecomb Jr. (Baylor) and Flory Bidunga (Kansas), as well as others. Additionally, there are a bunch of guys who didn’t make the list but are still worthy of recognition, such as Peter Bandelj (Cal Poly), Matas Vokietaitis (FAU), and more.
