Utah men’s basketball coach Craig Smith added another front court player to the program’s 2024-25 roster on Monday, announcing the signing of forward Ibrahima Traore.
Traore originally committed to Oregon and signed with the team back in November. It’s unclear how or when Traore reopened his recruitment and why things didn’t work out with Oregon.
The 6-foot-9, 225-pound Traore is listed as a three-star recruit with an 0.8835 player rating in 247 Sports’ composite rankings.
Traore, who hails from Bamako, Mali, played the past three seasons at West Oaks Academy in Orlando, Florida, and is listed as a center prospect by 247 Sports.
He averaged 18 points per game as a senior.
“We are thrilled to announce the addition of Ibrahima to the Runnin’ Utes basketball family,” Smith said in a statement. “Ibrahima plays with tremendous energy and passion. He is an excellent rebounder and rim protector, and has a relentlessness to his game that seems to never stop.”
In addition to Oregon, Traore also was offered a scholarship by College of Charleston and Texas State and garnered interest from Miami and Florida Atlantic, according to 247 Sports.
Traore left an impression with 247 Sports national basketball director Eric Bossi during the NCAA Basketball Academy last summer.
“We really loved the energy that this guy takes to the floor. He’s always hustling, always chasing after loose balls, always trying to dunk anything he can and giving energy on both ends of the floor,” Bossi wrote about Traore at the time.
“The schedule at the academy is a tough one with lots of games and lots of athletic testing and life skills sessions, to have the kind of energy he showed this deep into the event was pretty impressive.”
With Traore’s addition, the Utes have one open scholarship for next season.
With Branden Carlson and Cole Bajema exhausting their eligibility and with the Utes losing five players via the transfer portal, among them Deivon Smith and Keba Keita, Utah has hit the transfer portal hard to fill in a depleted roster.
The Utes have added six transfer players this offseason, including forward Keanu Dawes (Rice), guard Mason Madsen (Boston College), forward Zach Keller (Wake Forest), guard Miro Little (Baylor), forward Ezra Ausar (East Carolina) and wing Mike Sharavjamts (San Francisco).
Traore is the third freshman who’s a part of the Utes’ 2024-25 recruiting class, but he’s the only one who will be a part of the team this year.
Both Layton High shooting guard David Katoa and Alta High power forward Jaxon Johnson will serve missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before enrolling at Utah.
