Cal Sports Report

Florida Atlantic Transfer Big Man Mantas Kocanas Commits to Cal

6-foot-11 center Kocanas played just two games for the Owls last season as a freshman before suffering an injury. He signs with Cal on June 16

Jake Curtis

Cal head coach Mark Madsen
Cal head coach Mark Madsen / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
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Florida Atlanta transfer big man Mantas Kocanas, who redshirted this past season as a freshman, has committed to Cal basketball, according to Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68. He subsequently signed with Cal on June 16.

The 6-foot-11, 235-pound Kocanas is from Lithuania, and he played just two games this past season for Florida Atlantic before suffering a season-ending injury.

He played a total of just 15 minutes, hit 2-of-5 shots, scored four points, pulled down four rebounds and blocked one shot.

Kocanas played six minutes in the season-opening blowout win over Indiana State, scoring two points and grabbing one rebound while committing two fouls. He played nine minutes in Florida Atlantic's victory over Coastal Georgia in the second game and had two points, three rebounds and a blocked shot.

Kocanas was a member of the Under-17 Lithuanian national team that placed fourth in the U-17 world championships. He averaged 2.6 points and 2.8 rebounds on that team. Kocanas played for Lithuania on the Under-18 FIBA squad and averaged 9.6 points in 2023.

Kocanas turns 20 years old on June 28.

He becomes the eighth plays to transfer to Cal since the end of the 2024-25 season., joining Nolan Dorsey (Campbell), Milos Ilic (Loyola-Maryland), Dai Dai Ames (Virginia), Justin Pippen (Michigan), Chris Bell (Syracuse), Sammie Yeanay (Grand Canyon), John Camden (Delaware),

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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