4/30/2020 basketball Edit

Arizona announces addition of Turkish forward Tibet Gorener

Matt Moreno • GOAZCATS

Senior Editor

Matt Moreno is the senior editor at GOAZCATS.com. He joined the staff in August of 2011 and began as senior recruiting editor with the site before becoming senior editor in June of 2014.

Arizona has made some serious headway with its 2020 class in recent weeks and the trend has been international recruits. The third international prospect to commit to the Wildcats this month signed with the program on Thursday as Turkish forward Tibet Görener was announced by the Wildcats as a member of the team.

The 6-foot-8 forward played the last two seasons on American soil first at Montverde Academy in Florida before arriving to Southern California for his senior season at Orange Lutheran High School.

Görener picked the Wildcats over Creighton and Nebraska after Sean Miller's program turned up the heat in recent weeks and offered him a scholarship to join the team. The three-star prospect announced his pledge to the Wildcats earlier this week joining a string of other recruits with international ties in UA's 2020 class.

The Wildcats now have several incoming players with FIBA experience including incoming freshman point guard Kerr Kriisa (Estonia) and incoming freshman power forward Daniel Batcho (France).

What Görener will add to the Wildcats roster is shooting. He has become an impressive 3-point shooter during his career and because of his size it could certainly present some matchup issues in favor of UA as Görener begins his time with the program.

The official addition of Görener to the roster means UA has one more scholarship spot remaining for the 2020 class that it could potentially use on another international prospect or transfer player who becomes available. The staff could also hold onto the open scholarship spot for the 2021 class considering Arizona might not lose any of its underclassmen to the NBA Draft after next season at which point the team would need to find a way to make room for incoming players.

One thing UA does know now that Görener has committed and signed is that it currently has the top-ranked class in the Pac-12 after his decision. Arizona is currently rated as the 13th-best class for 2020 by Rivals.com and is second to only Gonzaga among West Coast programs.