UCSB Gauchos beat out UCLA and USC for forward Koat Keat

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Joe Pasternack scored a big recruiting victory as 6'9 forward Koat Keat commits to UCSB over UCLA and USC.

Keat was the CIF-SS Division 2A Player of the Year as the junior led Crean Lutheran in Irvine to a Southern Section title.

He scored a team-high 22 points, pulled down 16 rebounds and dished out 6 assists in the championship game win over Agoura.

Before coming to Crean Lutheran in 2020, he played at Renaissance Academy in Altadena where he was the CIF-SS Division 4-AA Player of the Year.

He is from South Sudan in Africa.

Keat is a versatile big man who is a good ball handler, has a good perimeter shot and can also play in the post.

He is a 3-star recruit that seems to be on the rise heading in to his senior year.

247 Sports ranks him as the 18th best prospect in the state in the class of 2022.

Prep Hoops ranks him as the #108 prospect nationally for his class.

Pasternack has won 20 or more games in all four of his seasons with the UCSB Gauchos.

Last year UCSB went 22-5 and won the Big West regular season and conference tournament championships.

UCSB played in the school's first NCAA Tournament game in ten years, losing to Creighton by one point in the first round.