ARLINGTON – New UT Arlington men's basketball head coach
KT Turner has secured another Power 5 transfer as Louisville product and 3-star high school prospect Fabio Basili has signed with the Mavericks.
Basili spent his freshman season at Louisville last year, appearing in 17 games for the Cardinals, who he chose over Kansas State, DePaul, Florida Atlantic and others coming out of Oak Ridge High School in Florida.
At Oak Ridge, the guard was a 3-star recruit after averaging 19.6 points, 4.8 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game as a senior in 2021-22, while shooting 55 percent from the field and 39 percent from 3-point range on his way to Honorable Mention All-State recognition.
The 6-4 Orlando native averaged 1.6 and 1.4 rebounds in limited minutes with Louisville, but he delivered a trio of season-best six-point outings against Maryland, Notre Dame and Western Kentucky. Basili also notched four rebounds versus Miami and Virginia Tech, and a secured a season-high five boards in a campaign-most 17 minutes in the regular-season finale at Virginia.
"Fabio has great size for the guard position, and he's an elite player in the open court," said Turner of the 175-pound Basili. "He plays the right way, and he plays to win. Fabio is a good rebounder for a guard, is a great playmaker and has an extremely high motor."
Basili was recognized this spring for his academic achievements and on-court performance by being named to the 2022-23 All-ACC Academic Men's Basketball Team.
Originally, Basili planned to be a part of the 2022 class, reclassified to 2023 and then returned to the 2022 class after completing some course work. He scored over 1,600 career points at Oak Ridge, helping his team to the state semifinals twice and the quarterfinals once. In 2021-22, the Pioneers went 21-8 and reached the 7A state semis in the second-highest classification in Florida.
Basili produced a triple-double in the 2021 Pangos All-American Festival semifinals in Las Vegas with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He totaled a team-high 27 points and eight assists in the title game and earned all-tournament recognition. In the summer of 2021, he averaged 26.7 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds over five games for E1T1 United at The Circuit Championship.
This is Turner's sixth signee of his initial recruiting class as Basili joins Division-I transfers
Freds Pauls Bagatskis,
DaJuan Gordon and
Phillip Russell, former D-I product
Dwayne Koroma and high school product
Makaih Williams.
Combined with returners
Shemar Wilson,
Brandyn Talbot and
Aaron Cash, Turner already has eight players on the 2023-24 roster who have previous D-I playing experience with still more signees coming. Those eight have combined to score 3,037 D-I points; as a team last year, UTA began the season with only 1,215 D-I points combined among 14 players.
SEASON TICKET DEPOSITS
Season ticket deposits for 2023-24 are already being accepted. With a one-time deposit of only $50/seat, fans can lock in their season ticket(s) to secure a spot in the state-of-the-art College Park Center for KT Turner's first year. For more information and to lock in a deposit, click here.
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