Kentucky, Auburn, UConn checking in on Cliff Omoruyi; Kentucky offers A.J. Griffin (UPDATED)

By ADAM ZAGORIA

Roselle (N.J.) Catholic big man Cliff Omoruyi hosted a Who’s Who of coaches during an open gym on Thursday night.

Kentucky’s John Calipari, Auburn’s Bruce Pearl and UConn’s Dan Hurley all attended along with assistants.

The 6-foot-11 Omoruyi recently Tweeted a list of 13 final schools and said, “I will be committing after basketball season.”

Omoruyi is listing Kentucky, Auburn, Louisville, Arizona State, Memphis, N.C. State, Miami, Maryland, Pitt, St. John’s, UConn, Rutgers and Temple.

He recently took an official visit to Auburn, and has been to UConn unofficially. He plans to shut it down and not take any more visits until after the high school ends in March.

“No visits coming,” he told me by text. “I shut it down till next year.”

Thank you to all the schools that showed interest in me. I will be committing after basketball season #stayonthegrind #offers #basketball #focus #favored #humble #lol #themarathoncontinues pic.twitter.com/fDhCrzwyI8

— Bigcliff77 (@wizcliff77) September 28, 2019

Omoruyi is a high-motor dunking machine who is still developing his face-up game. He plays at the same high school that produced Isaiah Briscoe (Kentucky), Tyler Roberson (Syracuse), Naz Reid (LSU) and Kahlil Whitney (Kentucky).

Anything you can dunk, I can dunk better. @RoselleCatholic‘s @KahlilWhitney & Cliff Omoruyi are trading haymakers early on at #SlamDunkDE. pic.twitter.com/b4vSzXxz0O

— Slam Dunk to Beach (@SlamDunktoBeach) December 28, 2018

A native of Nigeria who has only been playing organized basketball for a few years, Omoruyi has drawn comparisons to Clint Capela and Mitchell Robinson. Omoruyi was the most dominant big man in New Jersey last season. He and Whitney and Temple’s Josh Pierre-Louis helped lead the Lions to the Non-Public B state title game, where they fell to Bryan Antoine, Scottie Lewis and Ranney.

CALIPARI OFFERS A.J. GRIFFIN

Kentucky’s Calipari and Tony Barbee officially offered Class of 2021 forward A.J. Griffin on Thursday afternoon at Archbishop Stepinac (N.Y.) on Thursday.

This was the second time Calipari has seen the son of Toronto Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin, and an offer seemed likely. He and Villanova coach Jay Wright were in on Sept. 25.

Asked his impression of Kentucky, Griffin said, “My impression is that they have guys who are committed to the game, like De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk, those are two of my favorite players.”

Griffin is the sixth player in the Class of 2021 to add a Kentucky offer, following Devin Askew, Patrick Baldwin, Paolo Banchero, Jaden Hardy and Jonathan Kuminga.

In June, the 16-year-old Griffin, who runs with the PSA Cardinals AAU program, picked up offers from Duke, Kansas, Villanova, Michigan and Vanderbilt — in one day.

.@step_basketball‘s 5-star 2021 F Adrian Griffin Jr. had Calipari (UK) and Wright (‘Nova) in the building. Two schools with different recruiting philosophies…will it impact Griffin’s decision?

The 6-8 wing affirms it doesn’t matter, “I only prefer winning.” #BBN #NovaNation pic.twitter.com/U0Evwn5XpH

— Eugene Rapay (@erapay5) September 25, 2019

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