French Wing Ilane Fibleuil Commits to UCLA Men's Basketball

One of the top international prospects on the market is set to join the Bruins.

French shooting guard Ilane Fibleuil has verbally committed to UCLA men's basketball, he announced Thursday on Instagram. The 6-foot-6 wing was also being pursued by Gonzaga and the NBA G-League, but he has instead elected to come to Westwood.

Fibleuil, who visited UCLA in December, was playing with Pole France in Nationale Masculine 1 – the country's third-tier division of professional club basketball.

This season, Fibleuil averaged 10.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals in 23.5 minutes per game while putting up .346/.251/.621 shooting splits. The wing put up double-digit points in 10 of his first 15 appearances, scoring a season-high 20 against Vendée Challans Basket back on Oct. 28.

Fibleuil averaged 12.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals in 19.7 minutes per game for France at the 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup, shooting 60.3% from the field and 61.5% from deep in the tournament.

Fibleuil is a product of the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance in Paris, which was also the starting point for Tony Parker, Evan Fournier, Boris Diaw, Clint Capela, Ronny Turiaf and Joel Ayiyi.

Since 247Sports, Rivals, ESPN and On3 do not typically give star ratings to prospects before they commit to playing in college, Fibleuil does not currently have a score from any of the top recruiting databases. There is buzz that he could wind up as a four or five-star recruit.

The Bruins' international recruiting has exploded since they hired assistant coach Ivo Simovic last June. Italian guard/forward Abramo Canka signed on in August, and although Turkish big man Ege Demir was ultimately unable to enroll, he reportedly committed to UCLA in September.

Simovic also ran point for the recruitment of five-star small forward Andrej Stojakovic before he committed to Stanford in November, and his Serbian roots played a key role in the Bruins adding Utah transfer Lazar Stefanovic on Saturday.

The last time the Bruins reeled in a player from France was when they got power forward Jerome Moiso back in 1998. Moiso averaged 12.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 steals per game across two seasons at UCLA before going in the first round of the 2000 NBA Draft.

Fibleuil now becomes the latest overseas prospect to bolster UCLA's rotation, and he may not be the last this offseason. Reports have surfaced that potential five-star center Aday Mara has been released from his club team in Spain and is determined to play college basketball in the United States, likely at UCLA.

As for what Fibleuil brings to the table, the athletic shooting guard with a 6-foot-9 wingspan should help fill some gaping holes on the roster.

Coach Mick Cronin was always going to need to replenish his wing rotation this offseason – guard David Singleton ran out of eligibility, while guard Jaylen Clark, guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. and point guard Tyger Campbell expectedly declared for the 2023 NBA Draft. Clark could elect to return to Westwood before June 1, but the Achilles injury he suffered back on March 4 is projected to keep him out of the lineup until December or January at the very earliest.

Fibleuil may need time to ease into the rotation the same way Canka did last season. Unlike Canka, though, the French import will be with the team for the entire offseason training period, and he has been pegged by some as a dark horse 2024 NBA Draft prospect.