Nebraska men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg announced Wednesday that Berke Buyuktuncel (pronounced BEAR-keh buh-YOOK-toon-jell) will join the Husker basketball program for the 2024-25 season.
Buyuktuncel, a 6-foot-9, 245-pound forward from Bursa, Turkey, comes to Nebraska after spending his freshman year at UCLA in 2023-24. He played in 26 games, including eight starts for the Bruins. Buyuktuncel was rated the No. 36 player in the class of 2023 by 24/7 Sports, while he was rated by ESPN.com as the No. 2 international player to enter college basketball in 2023-24.
“Berke is a skilled forward who can impact the game on both ends of the court,” Hoiberg said. “He was one of the top international prospects coming into college last year and having a year of experience will benefit his development. His versatility makes him a natural fit for us. He is a high IQ player who can initiate offense from the frontcourt position and can stretch defenses with his shooting ability. He has very good positional size and can guard multiple positions with his length and defensive instincts.”
Buyuktuncel averaged 4.9 points and 2.7 rebounds in 24 games in 2023-24, as he missed the first three games of the year awaiting clearance from the NCAA while also missing time with a pair of injuries. He averaged 17.5 minutes per game while making seven of his eight starts in Pac-12 play. His other came in his college debut against Marquette in the Maui Invitational. He posted a pair of double-figure efforts – a season-high 13 points against Stanford and 12 points at Oregon. He had a season-high five rebounds on three occasions, once against Maryland and in both regular-season contests against Washington. In the first matchup, he added nine points and a pair of assists in 32 minutes of work against the Huskies.
He is well known in international circles, as Buyuktuncel made his Turkish senior national team debut at age 18 at the 2023 World Cup qualifier and has represented Turkey in numerous international youth events. In the summer of 2023, he led Turkey to a third-place finish at the FIBA U19 World Cup, including a 84-70 win over the United State in the third-place game. In that contest, he had 19 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals. He was named to the “All-Star Five” at the event, as he averaged 11.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game in seven games, including 34.8 percent from 3-point range and 86.7 percent from the free throw line. He was also chosen to the “All-Star Five” at the 2022 U18 European Championships after helping Turkey to a runner-up finish, as he averaged 12.3 points on 46.8 percent shooting, 7.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.1 steals in seven contests. Buyuktuncel also represented Turkey in the 2023 U20 European Championships, averaging 11.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game as one of the youngest players on the roster. He also competed for Turkey’s youth national teams in 2021 at the FIBA U18 European Challengers and at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup. Buyuktuncel played for Tofas Bursa in Turkey for four years, making 33 appearances for the club in his final season, including the Turkish Leage and the Basketball Champions League, averaging 5.6 points and 2.9 rebounds pe game.
Buyuktuncel joins a recruiting class that includes Division I transfers Andrew Morgan (North Dakota State), Rollie Worster (Utah), Gavin Griffiths (Rutgers), Connor Essegian (Wisconsin) and Braxton Meah (Washington) along with freshmen Braden Frager (Lincoln, Neb.) and Nick Janowski (Pewaukee, Wis.).