Class Of 2017 Power Forward Ike Eke Commits To Marquette Basketball

The future of Marquette basketball took a step forward on Sunday afternoon. Ike Eke, a 6’9", 216 lb, power forward from Nigeria by way of Michigan, announced his verbal commitment to the Golden Eagles on his Twitter account.

Eke is Marquette’s first commitment for the Class of 2017.

It’s been a fairly quick recruitment for Eke, who attends University of Detroit Jesuit High School in Detroit, Michigan. He used his Twitter account to announce his scholarship offer in mid-April, and then made an official visit to Marquette a week ago. Eke has likely been on the radar for head coach Steve Wojciechowski for a while, though, as Marquette had been recruiting Eke’s teammate, Cassius Winston, who ended up choosing Michigan State.

There is a certain amount of wait and see when it comes to assessing what Eke brings to the table as a recruit. He’s got height, obviously, but he is not rated or ranked by 247 Sports, either in their Composite system or their internal rankings. Rivals marks him as a three star prospect, while ESPN and Scout don’t have him listed at all.

If that last paragraph makes you a little worried about a tall, thin guy with no major recruiting profile, here’s a highlight video that Pat Donnelly, his high school coach, sent AE on Twitter after announcing his official visit.

UD Jesuit won the Michigan Class A state title in 2016, by the way. Winston was the star in the title game, but Eke had 10 points and 13 rebounds.

It’s not all about basketball for Eke, either. Take a look at this article from October 2014 by Marquette’s very own Henry Greening about what he’s been through since coming to the United States. He’s had a bit of a rough set of circumstances, but he’s focused on using basketball to get himself the best education possible.

We’ll close with a look at the Marquette scholarship picture with Eke on board.