Georgia Tech’s basketball programs snag big recruits during national signing period
The Georgia Tech men signed two players and the women’s landed four during this week’s national basketball signing period.
The men signed a four-star center from the Republic of Georgia and a three-star shooting guard with an impressive pedigree, while first-year women’s coach Nell Fortner added four guards to the roster, three of them rated as no less than four-star prospects.
The Yellow Jackets signed Saba Gigiberia, a 7-foot-1 center who has represented his country at the FIBA U16 and U18 European Championships, and Tristan Maxwell, the son of 13-year NBA veteran Vernon Maxwell.
Gigiberia is ranked as high as No. 102 in the nation and No. 14 at his position. Gigiberia has the wingspan of a 7-foot-4 player, coach Josh Pastner said, and can be the next in a line of the school’s talented post players.
“He’s only 17, so he still can get better in a lot of areas and has a chance to be a very good player,” Pastner said. “He’s skilled around the high post, has a high IQ and can pass the ball very well. He’ll fit well with how we play.”
Maxwell is a three-star recruit who has been ranked as high as No. 198 nationally. He averaged 22 points as a junior and led the state in 3-point shooting.
“Tristan is a high-level scorer,” Pastner said “I’ve always believed that you either know how to put the ball in the basket or you don’t. And Tristan knows how to put the ball in the basket. He can really shoot it.”
The prize for the women was five-star guard Anaya Boyd, a 6-foot versatile player from Lovejoy High School. She is ranked the No. 31 overall prospect in the country by ESPN who averaged 13 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists for Lovejoy, which won the state championship in 2018 and finished second in 2019.
“She can play every position on the floor and is an extremely dangerous player to have to guard if you’re the opposition,” Fortner said.
Georgia Tech also added four-star Avyonce Carter of the Wesleyan School in Norcross, four-star guard Eylia Love of Olathe (Kan.) North High School and Loyal McQueen of Wilson High in Darlington, S.C.
Carter is a two-time all-state player who averaged 17.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.6 steals in helping Wesleyan finish second in the state. Love averaged 13.7 points and was a finalist for Kansas 6A Player of the Year. McQueen is a scoring machine who averaged 24.7 points and is the sort of fast-place player that Fortner is pursuing.