UCLA Basketball Signs Berke Buyuktuncel

The 6'9" forward from Turkey completes UCLA's international recruiting class.

(Photo Credit: uclabruins.com)

Usually, Bruin fans don’t start looking for basketball news until around mid-October when the Bruin football team’s chances of winning the conference have again disintegrated.

In a sign of potential good things to come this winter, the Bruin basketball team is in the news for the second time during the first week in August.

That’s because, after signing Aday Mara on Thursday, the Bruins announced that Turkish forward Berke Buyuktuncel has signed a grant-in-aid today.

His name is pronounced: BER-keh buh-YOOK-tin-shill. And, you thought Odighizuwa was hard to say and spell.

Buyuktuncel led Turkey to third place in the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in Hungary. Turkey beat Team USA in the third-place game, 84-70, with Buyuktuncel contributing 19 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals.

"Our program is very excited to be adding Berke this season," UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said in the department’s official release. "He has established himself as a versatile forward with tremendous talent. Not only can he create for his teammates and score, but he has also developed an identity as a defensive stopper. Berke has become a well-known, highly-regarded international prospect. We can see him excelling at UCLA, both in our basketball program and in the classroom. With Jaime Jaquez having graduated in the spring, we had been searching for a multi-dimensional player with good size, and Berke fits that description. He can do it all on the basketball court. We really like our frontcourt and we're going to have depth there, with returners Adem Bona and Kenneth Nwuba and incoming freshmen Aday Mara and Devin Williams. Adding an impact player with Berke will be a major asset, and we're looking forward to having him join us in Westwood."

Last year, Buyuktuncel led Turkey to a second-place finish at the FIBA U18 European Championship. He was one of five players named to that tournament's "All-Star Five" , averaging 12.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.1 steals in seven games while shooting 46.8 percent from the field in that tournament.

Buyuktuncel played for Turkey's national teams in 2021 at the FIBA U18 European Challengers and at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup. In four games at the European Challengers tournament, he averaged 16.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

Go Bruins!!!

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