4-star Texas guard KJ Lewis commits to Arizona over UCLA, others

On Tuesday, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd told reporters that putting together a recruiting class isn’t as important to him as building a team. On Wednesday he got some good news that applies to both things.

KJ Lewis, a 4-star shooting guard from El Paso, Texas, has committed to the UA, becoming the second player from the Class of 2023 to pledge to the Wildcats in the past 10 days.

The 6-foot-4, 185-pound Lewis, who grew up in Tucson before moving to Texas in fifth grade, picked Arizona over Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, Memphis, Texas Tech and UCLA. He is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 65 player in the Class of 2023, as well as the 15th-best shooting guard and No. 6 prospect from Texas.

Here’s what 247Sports’ Brandon Jenkins had to say about Lewis:

“Lewis is a strong guard who is a terrific athlete. He owns an intense combination of size, length, and burst from the two-guard position. He is a quick first step slasher to the rim not only on the break but from the top and wing in the halfcourt set as well. He excels the majority of the time offensively in transition and also does a great job of getting his teammates involved with his feel as a passer. On the other end of the floor, his length and active hands are impressive. Lewis has the potential to be an excellent defender on and away from the ball as well. He applies ball pressure, picks pockets, and is alert, active, and quick to the ball in the passing lanes. Lewis competes with constant energy and urgency on both ends of the floor. He plays very hard and has off the charts explosion at the rim. With hard work and continued attention to detail on his ball handling and jumper, we could see Lewis turn into one of the top shooting guard prospects in the country for the 2023 class.”

Lewis joins 5-star point guard Kylan Boswell, who picked the Wildcats over Illinois and UNLV on Feb. 28 after visiting Tucson during the weekend that ESPN’s College GameDay was in town, in its 2023 recruiting class. Arizona has signed one player in the 2022 class, 7-foot Phoenix-area center Dylan Anderson.