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The transfer period bonanza for UCF sports has not stopped with Brandon Wimbush joining UCF Football, as the Knights’ Men’s Basketball program found out TCU center Yuat Alok is also leaving his old school to become a Knight.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
— UCF Men's Basketball (@UCF_MBB) January 17, 2019
Excited to welcome our newest Knight, @YuatAlok, to the #UCFamily! https://t.co/bDpZm34PFC
The whole thing has happened pretty quick. Here’s Alok at practice earlier today, still wearing some TCU gear:
Coach Dawkins talking with center Yuat Alok, who officially transferred from TCU this week. Dawkins said he could be eligible to play after the 2019 fall semester.
— Brian Murphy (@Spokes_Murphy) January 18, 2019
When Alok will be eligible to wear #UCF and not TCU sweatpants: TBD pic.twitter.com/fK5u2w40sK
At 6-11 and 225 pounds, Alok is a big man with a big upside. Originally from Kenya by way of Auckland, New Zealand, he went to Impact Academy in Sarasota for high school, and then spent two years at Chipola College, outside of Tallahassee, where he played himself into being a legit high-level junior college recruit.
He averaged 12.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in his last year at Chipola (2017-2018) while shooting better than 55% from the field and 81% from the line, and was the #3 overall 2018 JUCO recruit and the top-rated big man, according to JUCORecruiting.com.
Here are some highlights from his time at Chipola:
Alok enrolled at TCU at the start of this season, where he played in 10 games and averaged 2.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in 131 total minutes of action before breaking his hand last month and being declared out for the season. Alok then dropped his name into the now-famous NCAA Transfer Portal over winter break.
Here are Alok’s career college stats:
Yuat Alok’s College Stats
| Year | School | Gms | Starts | PPG | RPG | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | BPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Gms | Starts | PPG | RPG | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | BPG |
| 2016-17 | Chipola | 30 | 21 | 7.9 | 5 | 60.6 | 33.3 | 68.5 | 0.7 |
| 2017-18 | Chipola | 22 | 21 | 12.3 | 7 | 55.1 | 48.1 | 81.6 | 1.5 |
| 2018-19 | TCU | 10 | 0 | 3.3 | 2.5 | 43.3 | - | 77.8 | 0.3 |
Jon Rothstein of CBS, who broke the news on Wednesday, had Alok listed as one of his top ten JUCO transfers when he went to TCU:
10 Impact JUCO Transfers (in no particular order):
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) November 1, 2018
1. LJ Figueroa, SJU
2. Yuat Alok, TCU
3. M. Taylor, LSU
4. R. Fredericks, UC
5. Andres Feliz, Illinois
6. Mason Jones, Arkansas
7. Austin Trice, K State
8. Charles Jones, Utah
9. I. Maurice, Memphis
10. R. Williams, Boise State
As Rothstein alluded to in his tweet breaking the news, this is a key get for UCF Knights head coach Johnny Dawkins. With Tacko Fall in his senior season, UCF needed depth and athleticism on the interior for 2019-2020, and Alok provides that. While Tacko is indeed very athletic for a guy his size, there are some limitations that come with his frame, so replacing him with a player the caliber of Alok at the five should speed up the Knights’ offense next year.
UPDATE: Previously this article referred to Alok as a five-star JuCo recruit. This was incorrect. Alok never received five starts out of junior college. Our bad.