5-star post Maya Nnaji, Zeke’s sister, commits to Arizona

Another Nnaji is coming to Tucson.

Maya Nnaji, Zeke’s younger sister, committed to the Arizona Wildcats on Monday. She is a 6-foot-4 forward out of Hopkins High School in Hopkins, Minnesota. According to ESPN, she is the No. 7 player in the 2022 class, the highest-ranked player Arizona has ever landed.

“TODAY IS A GREAT DAY!!!” UA coach Adia Barnes tweeted. “Perfect way to start the week. THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT!!”

Nnaji has led Hopkins to a pair of state championships and was the the 2021 Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year after averaging 20.4 points per game.

She chose the Wildcats over Stanford, Florida, UCLA, Georgia, Illinois, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan, South Carolina, Oregon and Virginia. Nnaji joins Florida guard Kailyn Gilbert in Arizona’s 2022 class. Both are top-20 recruits.

In 2020, ESPN described Nnaji as a “skilled interior performer delivers efficiently in the paint; interior footwork, utilizes either hand to finish in traffic; emerging face up game; a defensive intimidator, alters shots, initiates the fast break, mobile in transition; an impact prospect in the class of 2022.”

The Star Tribune said Nnaji has “unmatched moves around the basket, able to attack and snatch rebounds from smaller players without fouling. Her footwork is smooth and polished. When she finishes, she relies on the softest touch around the basket in the metro.”

Zeke was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and a first-round pick in his lone season at Arizona, so Maya will arrive with even more fanfare than a typical five-star recruit.

“This is the biggest decision of my life, but the answer has never been clearer,” Nnaji said on Instagram. “My entire family has been praying to the Most High to give me an answer and show me the way and I know He’s done just that. I want to go to a school that can fulfill my aspirations of being a doctor and play for a coach who looks like me. I want to blaze my own trail and win championships with a program that knows what it takes to get there. This school has been watching me and supporting me from the sidelines since day one. They saw a spark in me at an early age and now they’re like family.”