Four-star high school recruit Annor Boteng announced on Friday that he will play at Mizzou next season. (Image courtesy: Mizzou Athletics)
Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
COLUMBIA, MO — Prime time high school recruit Annor Boteng, the No. 17 overall player in the 2024 class, announced on Friday that he has committed to play next season at the University of Missouri.
The 6-foot-5 wing from Little Rock, Ark., chose head coach Dennis Gates and Missouri over a top-eight group of offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Indiana, LSU, Ohio State, and Virginia Tech.
Boateng initially took an unofficial visit to Mizzou in December and returned to Columbia, Mo., in August for an official visit. He was scheduled to take an official visit to Indiana this weekend, but recently announced he and his family had cancelled the trip. Then, just after lunch today, he announced his plans to attend Mizzou.
“Coach Gates wants to develop a relationship outside of basketball,” Boteng said in an interview in July. “Like, even when I first started talking to him, he didn’t really mention basketball. He mentioned me as a person. Like, who am I outside of basketball? Because that’s really what it winds down to. So just how he communicates, how he talks and just how I can relate with him outside of basketball is a big thing that’s really eye-catching to me.”
The four-star prospect, who averaged 18.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists per game, and led Little Rock Central High School to a 24-7 record last season, also played on the Nike EYBL circuit, as well as the Adidas 3SSB circuit and competed in both the Adidas EuroCamp and NBPA Top 100 Camp.
Boateng joins a Missouri high school commit group that was ranked ninth in the country when the day began and features No. 54 Marcus Allen, No. 85 Peyton Marshall, and No. 116 Antonio “T.O.” Barrett.
He is the Tigers’ highest-rated committed played since the 2017 class that included Michael Porter Jr, now of the NBA champion Denver Nuggets.
Missouri is also hosting the nation’s No. 13 player in 2024, Jayden Quaintance, on an official visit this weekend. Quaintance arrived in Columbia on Thursday and will be in town until Saturday.
The Mizzou men’s basketball team will begin preseason training camp in two weeks, with an eye on their season opener, November 6 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.