Two Top 100 Players Sign with Miami Basketball
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami head basketball coach Jim Larrañaga announced the signing of a pair of ESPN Top 100 players in guard Chris Lykes and forward Deng Gak to National Letters of Intent to play for the Hurricanes, beginning in the fall of 2017.
“My staff has done a phenomenal job both with Chris and Deng of just keeping our Miami men’s basketball program in their minds,” Larrañaga said. “With text messaging now, recruiting is ridiculous, but it’s also kind of fun. We had a lot of things going for us and the coaches – my staff – did a great job. On the visits, our players were just tremendous in welcoming them and making them feel a part of the program already.”
Lykes is ranked 52nd, while Gak is 93rd on ESPN’s Top 100 list for 2017. This marks the second straight Miami recruiting class with a pair of ESPN Top 100 players, following last year’s signing of Bruce Brown (26) and Dewan Huell (28).
“I think last year was kind of an ‘upset’ that we got Dewan Huell and Bruce Brown. We were kind of the underdog during that recruiting process and things worked out great,” Larrañaga said. “The potential to grow more in this recruiting cycle and to catapult us into that upper echelon where it’s not an ‘upset’ is where we want to be. Right now we have some momentum. Chris Lykes is a top 50 player and Deng Gak is a top 100 player. We feel like we can really recruit now to get the McDonald’s All-American caliber of player and the one-and-done type of player. It doesn’t mean he will be one-and-done, but he will be looking at us knowing that we can help him reach the NBA in his career.”
Lykes is a 5-foot-7-inch explosive do-it-all point guard from Bowie, Md., who plays at Gonzaga College (D.C.) High School. He is ranked No. 52 on the ESPN Top 100 list, and is ranked 11th at his position and second in D.C.
Gak is a 6-foot-11-inch forward playing his prep ball at Blair Academy in New Jersey. ESPN ranks Gak as No. 93 overall, 16th at his position and as the top forward in the state of New Jersey. Scout lists Gak at No. 20 for his position and tops in the state at his position.
More about Chris Lykes
Last season Lykes was the player of the year in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC), arguably the best high school conference in the country. He averaged 22.0 points, 4.3 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game last season for coach Steve Turner, leading the Eagles (24-10) to the semifinals in both the WCAC and District of Columbia State Athletic Association. He knocked down 47.3 percent of his shots from three and hit 74.9 percent at the line.
Lykes is a skilled ball handler with a dynamic combination of quickness and shooting ability who can finish in traffic with contact or hit long-range threes.
“At 5-7, the closest thing right now that I can compare him to is Isaiah Thomas of the Boston Celtics,” said Larrañaga. “He’s fast, he’s quick, he jumps, he shoots, he handles, he passes, he’s a high energy guy. He smiles all the time and he’s really great fun to be around and play with. Everybody that plays with him tells me how much fun they have playing basketball with him.”
The high school senior also donates his time as a youth basketball instructor, volunteers both at his church and the National Foundation for Cancer Research as a peer tutor.
Lykes plays AAU ball for coach Keith Stevens and Team Takeover on the EYBL circuit, and chose Miami over offers from Villanova, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Stanford.
More about Deng Gak
At age 17, Gak joined current Hurricane Dejan Vasiljevic on the Australian U19 team, averaging 4.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.7 blocks for the Emus at the 2015 FIBA World Championship. Both Gak and Vasiljevic played high school basketball at Australia’s Centre of Excellence.
At 6-foot-11, Gak is a long shot blocker who will protect the rim with his 7-foot-5-inch wingspan. He is a versatile big man who can run the floor and hit the mid-range jump shot.
“Deng Gak is from Australia and he and DJ (Dejan Vasiljevic) played on the Australian under 19 team together,” said Larrañaga. “They became good friends and they were roommates, so they talked about Miami. When we signed Chris (Lykes), Deng knew about Chris coming and then Deng narrowed his choices to include Miami. We were his first visit – then Florida and Kansas. That’s pretty stiff competition, but we felt very very good. His AAU coach was very upfront that we shouldn’t stop recruiting him just because his brother is at Florida and because Kansas has won 12-consecutive Big 12 Championships, so we kept plugging away.”
Gak was born in Cairo, Egypt, then moved to the South Sudan (of Dinka descent) before ultimately landing in Sydney, Australia. He moved to New Jersey in the fall of 2015 to begin his career at Blair Academy, where he is coached by Joe Mantegna, who also mentored Los Angeles Lakers wing Luol Deng and other NBA players at Blair.
Gak plays on the AAU circuit for Terrence “Munch” Williams and the PSA Cardinals, and played in the Pangos All-American Camp Top 30 Cream of the Crop Game. He chose to attend Miami over offers from Kansas, Connecticut and Florida.
