Arizona transfer Oumar Ballo announced his commitment to Indiana today.
Ballo, a 7-foot, 260-pound center who is from Koulikoro, Mali, has one season of eligibility remaining and recently completed a visit to Bloomington.
He chose the Hoosiers over interest from Arkansas, Louisville, Kansas State, North Carolina, Florida and others. In the latest 247Sports transfer portal rankings, Ballo is considered the No. 1 prospect in the portal.
Ballo averaged 12.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots in 25.9 minutes per game last season for the Wildcats.
He began his career at Gonzaga and will turn 22 in July.
In 132 career games between Arizona and Gonzaga, Ballo has averaged 9.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots in 19.8 minutes per game.
He owns a career field goal percentage of 64.6 and is a career 56.4 percent free throw shooter.
Here’s a scouting report on Ballo from C.J. Moore of The Athletic:
Ballo is one of the best in college basketball at carving out space in the post and giving his guards a big target. He’s perfect in any offense that plays to the post pin. Arizona built its defense around Ballo’s ability to protect the rim and take up a lot of space in drop coverage. He doesn’t block a lot of shots (1.3 per game) but he’s hard to score over and is an elite rebounder.
He can get picked on in drop coverage against talented guards. The recipe to beat Arizona was with guards who knew how to handle the drop and/or bigs who could pop. Foot speed is always going to be an issue. Ballo was a double-double machine, averaging 12.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. He shot 65.8 percent from the field but his efficiency takes a knock because of his poor free-throw shooting — a career-low 49.5 percent as a senior. His usage rate went down as Arizona leaned more on its guards this season, but Ballo is talented enough to have an offense run through him.
And Ballo’s bio from last season at Arizona:
2023-24 (Redshirt Senior Season)
• First Team All Pac-12
• Pac-12 All-Defensive Team
• Arizona career leader in Field Goal Pct. (64.6%)
• Pac-12 Tournament All-Tournament Team
• One of 10 players in Arizona history with 1,000 career points and 800 career rebounds as a Wildcat
• His 34 career double-doubles are tied for third in Arizona history
• His 20 double-doubles during the 2023-24 season are tied for third-most in a season in Arizona history
• He joins Deandre Ayton (24), Al Fleming (22) and Jordan Hill (20) as the only Wildcats to register 20 or more double-doubles in a season
• Ranks 7th in Arizona history with 134 career blocked shots
• Ranks 8th in Arizona history in career rebounds (830)
• Became the 54th player in Arizona history to score 1,000 points
• Had a string of nine straight games with a double-double during the month of February, the longest by a Wildcat since Al Fleming in 1974-75
• Shot 65.8% from the floor for the year, the second-best single season percentage in Arizona history; he also owns the third-best percentage of 64.7% during the 2022-23 season
• Pac-12 Player of the Week on Dec. 26 after averaging 15.5 points and 16.5 rebounds against Alabama and FAU
• Pulled down 21 rebounds against FAU, the most since Jordan Hill had 22 in 2008; his nine offensive rebounds in the game were the most by a Wildcat since Derrick Williams had nine in 2011
• Also one of five players named to USBWA Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week list on Dec. 27
• Preseason All-American
• Preseason First Team All Pac-12
• Preseason Pac-12 Player of the Year (ESPN.com; Blue Ribbon Magazine)
• Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List
• Wooden Award Preseason Watch List
Filed to: Oumar Ballo, Transfer portal
