Egbuonu Commits to Shaka Smart

Dylan Thayer | Thursday, November 6th, 2025

Longtime New England standout Alex Egbuonu has just announced his commitment to play for Shaka Smart and the Marquette Golden Eagles live on the CBS Sports YouTube. 

The Lawrence Academy and BABC product narrowed down his choices to five: Marquette, Stanford, Boston College, Auburn, and Villanova, midway through the month of October. 

Egbuonu is currently ranked in the top 75 in the country by 247Sports and is amongst the top of the current NERR rankings, but for those of us who have been watching his growth for years, this is a great moment. 

Having moved to New Hampshire early in his childhood, Egbuonu has consistently stood out from the jump. He spent his early grassroots days with BABC’s partnered program, ASA, where he was a consistent standout before even entering middle school. 

With a reputation already established, Egbuonu has flourished at the high school level.

To cap off his grassroots career, Egbuonu was a part of one of the nation’s best teams with the BABC, playing with Abdou Toure, Amir Jenkins, Chase Geremia, Haisi Mayben, Hunter Te Ratana, and Tahlan Pettway. 

That BABC team went on to make the quarterfinals of the 3SSB championships, losing their first game of the grassroots season to D1 Minnesota.

A long-time member of the program, the BABC’s founder and coach, Leo Papile, had nothing but good things to say about where Egbuonu can go as a player: “Alex gave us four solid seasons. He’s a high academic guy, a trait that generally translates well onto the court.”

“He’s also a rare non-reclassed NEPSAC guy, who will play his senior season at age seventeen, allowing for even more physical growth,” Papile continued. 

“He’s added versatility to his game every season…his best days are ahead,” Papile concluded.

When I spoke with Alex in November of 2024, he mentioned a few aspects of his game he was looking to work on and improve upon were the speed and mechanics of which he got outside shots off, while also getting more in-tune with conditioning. 

The shooting mechanics have seen growth, but the consistency of his shot is still a work in progress, as he saw a slight dip in his three-point percentage across the past two 3SSB seasons. 

Conditioning, however, he’s definitely improved upon just with the number of games he’s played in the past calendar year alone. 

Moving past grassroots play, Egbuonu enters his last season at Lawrence Academy this winter. In our talks last winter, he mentioned that one of his goals was to help the team make the playoffs, as he had yet to see a playoff berth in his LA career. Egbuonu did just that as the Spartans earned the 8th seed in the tournament, ultimately falling to the number one seed in Cushing Academy.

Lawrence Academy Head Coach, Mike Foustokous, has been with Alex since the end of his freshman year, and spoke highly of his development over the years: 

“When I got here, I knew a little bit about Alex and obviously the potential he has… but he’s worked so hard to maximize that. In turn, he continues to become a better version of himself every day,” said Foustokous.

“I’m super proud of who Alex has become on and off the court. It’s been phenomenal to see him develop a lot of those important people skills, which will allow him to be successful in whatever he decides to do,” he concluded. 

An exemplary character on and off the court, Egbuonu now looks to put together a strong senior season as Lawrence plays for their former coach, Kevin Wiercinski.

In Egbuonu, Shaka Smart is getting one of those recruits that been on an upward trend for most of, if not all of, his playing career. The big wing is built like a defensive end, using his power to get right to the rim consistently, where he can finish with power. 

On the defensive end, Egbuonu’s strength and mobility allow him to guard multiple positions. A vital piece of the BABC’s success this spring was due to his defensive versatility. 

As November gets underway, you can catch Egbuonu in action with Lawrence Academy beginning on December 6th against Mount St. Charles at the Zero Gravity Prep Classic.