May 15, 2018
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State men's basketball head coach Brian Dutcher announced today the signing of Aguek Arop (uh-GWUK uh-ROPP) to a National Letter of Intent. The 6-6, 210-pound forward will join the program as a freshman beginning in 2018-19.
"He has length, skill and athleticism that Aztec fans are familiar with seeing in our teams," Dutcher said. "Aguek is versatile and able to play a number of positions. He has a very bright future ahead of him at San Diego State University."
Arop inks with the Aztecs out of Omaha South High in Nebraska and The Skill Factory in Woodstock, Georgia.
While at Omaha South, Arop was named the 2016 Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year after leading Packers to a Class A state title and 28-1 record. Arop averaged 15.9 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 blocked shots, while shooting 61.8 percent from the floor en route to being named an all-Metro Conference first-team selection and honorary captain by the Omaha World-Herald.
A season later, in 2016-17, Arop led Nebraska's Class A in points (17.1) and rebounds (9.8), and once again led Omaha South to the state tournament where it advanced to the semifinals. He later earned all-Metro first-team accolades for the second straight year.
The two-time all-Nebraska selection spent last season at The Skill Factory, a prep school outside of Atlanta, Georgia. The wing helped his team to a 44-6 record and averaged 21 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. His scoring and rebounding averages were tops among his 18 teammates.
Arop will be one of three freshmen set to step foot on campus ahead of the 2018-19 academic year, joining Joel Mensah (JSerra Catholic High) and Nathan Mensah (Findlay Prep). The trio will be part of a four-man class with redshirt freshman Adam Seiko eligible this upcoming season.
This past year, the Aztecs made their seventh NCAA tournament appearance in the last nine years and earned their 12th postseason berth in the last 13 seasons. SDSU finished the 2017-18 campaign with a 22-11 record and won the Mountain West tournament crown, its conference-leading 11th league championship.
SDSU won nine of its final 10 games of the campaign and is expected to return starters Jalen McDaniels, Matt Mitchell and Devin Watson, as well as significant contributors Jeremy Hemsley, Jordan Schakel and Nolan Narain for the 2018-19 campaign.