Skip to main content

Mathurin is the 12 player born overseas to play for Miller, but that includes Nico Mannion who spent most of his childhood in America.

For the most part Arizona has done well with foreign born players.

The Best

Deandre Ayton – 20.1 ppg, 11.6 rpg

Arguably the most talented player in school history, but one who did not stay long enough to be beloved by fans. His stay in Tucson is also marred by a first round NCAA loss to Buffalo and his name being linked to the FBI reports, though no proof of wrongdoing has emerged.

Josh Green (Australia) – 12.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg.

Green has started every game for Arizona in his freshman season. He is the team’s third leading scorer and a solid all around player. The only question is whether he will return for a second season.

Lauri Markannen (Finland) – 15.6 ppg, 7.2 rbg

Markannen only played one season in Tucson but he was All-Pac-12, All-Pac-12 Freshman team and a Wooden Award finalist. He was the 7 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft

Dusan Ristic (Serbia) – 8.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg

A four-year player for the Wildcats he was a starter for the bulk of his final two season and averaged over 10 ppg his junior and senior seasons.

Mixed Results

Keanu Pinder (Australia) – 2.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg

Pinder was a solid role player for Arizona. He played in 67 games in his Wildcat career but made just a single start.

Busts

Emmanuel Akot (Canada) – 2.5 ppg, 1.7 rpg

Akot had a strange Wildcat career. He played in 31 games as a freshman but started 11 of 17 games as a sophomore and was starting before he decided to transfer. Even stranger was that he left school after the spring semester started and lost the ability to play this season. He will play for Boise State next year.

Angelo Chol (Sudan) – 2.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg

Chol had all the raw athletic ability but never put it together. HE was a two-year reserve in Tucson before transferring to San Diego State where he averaged just 4.1 ppg in two seasons. He made just nine career starts, none for the Wildcats. He is playing professionally in Japan.

Kyryl Natyazhko (Ukraine) – 1.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg

Spent three years in an Arizona uniform but saw his playing time actually diminish as the Arizona roster got better. He played just 22 games his junior season and left the program to play professionally in Europe. He is a member of the Ukrainian national team.

Omar Thielemans (Belgium) –

Thielemans was a late addition to the 2018 recruiting class, enrolled at Arizona and left the team before the start of the season. He first announced he was going to play at Wright State, then pivoted and committed to Milwaukee. He never made it and is currently at South Plains College where he has scored one point is eight games.

Jury is Out

Christian Koloko (Cameroon) – 1.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg.

Koloko has played in 14 games this season but has only averaged 7.4 minutes a contest. He has seen his role increase a bit the second half of the season, but his best days appear to be ahead of him.