BYU Big Man Atiki Ally Atiki Enters Transfer Portal

BYU had another player enter the transfer portal as big man Atiki Ally Atiki entered the portal Tuesday. Travis Branham of 247 Sports was the first to publicly report and sources confirmed the news to me. Atiki is the fourth BYU player to enter the portal since Mark Pope left, joining Aly Khalifa, Richie Saunders, and Dallin Hall. He has one year of eligibility remaining. Sources tell me that Atiki entered the portal after talking to Kevin Young and not seeing enough playing time for his last season in Provo as BYU looks to add other big men.

The Tanzania native played in 88 games in 3 seasons at BYU, averaging 3.6 points, 3.2, and 0.8 blocks per game. Atiki came to BYU incredibly raw and was thrust into action unexpectedly as a freshman after upperclassmen Gavin Baxter and Richard Harward missed the season.

Atiki is incredibly athletic and can be contributor at his next school, he just quite didn’t develop enough offensively and in the details of a defense to have a consistent impact. He showed flashes with his rim protection and rim-running ability but was often too foul prone and not enough of a threat offensively.

Atiki overcame immense odds just to become a D1 athlete and will have the chance to make a bigger impact in his final season of college eligibility. He played through a torn thumb ligament all season and will have offseason surgery to repair that.