RICHMOND, Ky. – Tariq Balogun – a 6-10 forward from London, England – has signed to play basketball at Eastern Kentucky University, head coach A.W. Hamilton announced on Monday.
Balogun has played the last two seasons at Miller School of Albemarle, a prep school located in Charlottesville, Virginia.
He was voted first team all-state and first team all-conference this past season.
In 2017-18, Balogun earned second team all-conference honors while helping lead Miller School to a Division II state title.
Miller School went 50-12 in Balogun’s two seasons with the program. He averaged 14.0 points and 7.0 rebounds-per-game, while shooting 61 percent from the field and 48 percent from three-point range during his prep career.
“We are so excited to welcome Tariq into the EKU basketball family,” Hamilton said. “Tariq is an exceptional talent with tremendous upside. He runs the floor extremely well and has the ability to change shots on the defensive end with his length and athleticism. The thing that excites me the most, though, is his drive and passion to become an elite player.”
Balogun also held offers from the likes of Old Dominion, North Texas and Morgan State.
He joins guards Ty Taylor (Kansas City, Missouri), Curt Lewis (Louisville, Kentucky), Russhard Cruickshank (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and Michael Moreno (Georgetown, Kentucky) in Hamilton’s 2019 signing class.
In Hamilton’s first season as head coach, EKU ranked 13th in the country in scoring offense (82.6 points-per-game) and second in the country in both steals-per-game (10.2) and turnovers forced-per-game (18.3).
Fans can get a head start on the 2019-20 season by placing a non-refundable $50 deposit on season tickets that will be included in the overall price of the package. For questions or to place your deposit, call Alex Harrison at (859) 358-9272 or the EKUSports ticket office at 844-3-GOBIGE.
