Abdur-Rahim Chooses UVA

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Posted on Wednesday, Jul. 10, 2019, 7:03 pm

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By Jerry Ratcliffe

The recruiting benefits of winning the national championship continued to live on Wednesday when 4-star small forward Jabri Abdur-Rahim announced his commitment to Tony Bennett’s Virginia program.

Abdur-Rahim, the son of former NBA standout Shareef Abdur-Rahim, chose UVA over a host of other offers including Michigan, Notre Dame, Louisville and UConn. The 6-foot-7 prospect from Blairstown, N.J., has been described as a special scorer.

He led the NBA Top 100 camp in scoring during his week of play at UVA’s John Paul Jones Arena, and averaged 15.3 points and 7.1 rebounds in leading Blair Academy to the state title as a junior last season. During his play on the Nike EYBL 17U circuit this past spring, he averaged 25 points per game for Team Playaz Club and scored 44 points (10 of 15 on 3-point attempts) in one game.

Abdur-Rahim made his official visit to Virginia in late June, shortly after his experience at the NBA Top 100 camp. In between, Bennett traveled to New Jersey to watch him play in the Mid-Atlantic Independent Shootout, an NCAA-sanctioned event at the prospect’s school.

Abdur-Rahim told ESPN, “I felt most comfortable with the staff and I felt they would best prepare me to win on the college level and achieve my ultimate goal of playing in the NBA.”

Abdur-Rahim, ranked No. 41 in the country by Rivals.com and No. 44 by 247Sports, is the highest-ranked UVA commit since Kyle Guy, and gives the Cavaliers two top-70 commitments for the Class of 2020 (4-star PG Reece Beekman is No. 56 overall in the 247 rankings and No. 65 by Rivals).

His commitment moves UVA to No. 1 in the 247sports team rankings, joining Beekman and 3-star SG Carson McCorkle (No. 133 by 247 and No. 125 by Rivals).