UConn landed another recruit, adding to its already highly rated incoming freshman class. Shooting guard Christian Vital tweeted his intention to join the Huskies on Friday.
“New England you stuck with [me] through my hardships and struggles I’m glad I have the chance to repay you,” Vital tweeted at about 2:30 p.m. He added the hashtag Huskies.
Vital, who played at St. Thomas More, originally committed to UNLV but re-opened his recruiting after the coaching change there. At the Jordan Brand Classic in Brooklyn on April 15, he said he had narrowed his list to UConn, Louisville and Iowa. He visited UConn on April 18, then visited Louisville last weekend. He returned to Storrs with his mother this week because she couldn’t make it for the first trip, and the Huskies sealed the deal.
“The relationship I got with coach K.O. was really strong from the jump,” Vital told The Courant Friday. “It was a priority for me that my mother got on campus, and it gave me a chance to get back on campus and spend more time with them. She even said it was a great place. And having K.O. as a mentor, a big brother and a coach, for me, personally, is going to be a great for my development.”
Vital said Ollie, who has been mentioned this week as a potential candidate for the Lakers’ coaching job, assured him he was staying at UConn.
“That’s the reason I committed,” Vital said. “He texted me before 9 [a.m.] every day and said he wasn’t going to the Lakers, and to trust in him, that he loved me and wanted me to be a part of his family.”
Rated a three-star recruit by ESPN, Vital, 6 feet 2, joins a class that already has four top-100 recruits, including point guard Alterique Gilbert from Georgia and forwards Juwan Durham from Tampa, Vance Jackson from Los Angeles and Mamadou Diarra from Queens and Putnam Science Academy.
Scout.com rates UConn’s recruiting class No. 8 in the nation; ESPN has it at No. 9.
Vital, from Queens Village, N.Y., averaged 16.8 points for St. Thomas More. He was a teammate there of Steven Enoch, now a sophomore at UConn, and an AAU teammate of Terry Larrier, who will be eligible to play for UConn this season.
“Steven is my best friend and big brother,” Vital said. “And I’m extremely familiar with Jalen Adams from playing [prep school] ball in New England, and Terry Larrier is also like my big brother.”
Diarra and Vital were teammates at the Jordan Brand regional game. Vital had 13 points, seven assists and four steals in the game. Vital played a lot of point guard this past season at St. Thomas More and is confident he will be able to handle both positions, if needed, for the Huskies.
With Sterling Gibbs, who is getting his master’s degree, and Omar Calhoun graduating and Sam Cassell Jr. graduating and transferring to Iona, the Huskies are in need of backcourt depth. Daniel Hamilton is leaving the program for the NBA draft, and two others, Rodney Purvis and Amida Brimah, are still testing the waters. If Purvis leaves — he has until May 25 to decide — Vital will certainly have the chance to earn significant minutes in the backcourt.
“I’m someone who is going to give it everything he has,” Vital said. “I know I have a long way to go in my development as a player. My strengths right now are definitely shooting from the outside, and my defense, on and away from the ball.”
Coaches cannot comment on recruits until they sign a national letter of intent, which Vital said he will do as soon as possible.
