Ali Ali Commits to Butler!

Thad Matta lands his first commit, as the 6’8” wing from Kendallville, IN commits to Butler.

Ali Ali announced on his Instagram page Saturday morning that he was transferring to Butler!

Ali is a high upside player, being so long and having excellent shooting ability, hitting at a 40.7% clip from three-point range last year. He dropped a career-high 32 points on New Year’s Day against Buffalo, doing half of his scoring from the free-throw line in that spot, shooting a whopping 16/22 from the charity stripe.

Ali has improved a ton over the course of his three-year career, averaging 1.1PPG in his freshman season, 7.2PPG in his sophomore season followed by 13.9PPG last season, in his junior year. He’s showing great signs of progression throughout his college career, also increasing his field goal and three-point percentages in all three years, even with a rise in attempts.

One of the main things I look at when assessing a potential transfer is his ability to play against high-level competition. Ali didn’t play particularly well offensively in their NCAA tournament game, but he did limit Johnny Juzang and Jaime Jaquez on the other end. The MAC was a very competitive league last year, and Ali played well against some of their better teams, including 22 points in both games against Ohio, a solid game in the conference tournament championship with 15 points, led by 4/5 shooting from deep. He also dropped 17 in their season opener, a close loss to Ohio State. All of this to say, Ali clearly belongs at this level.

He also had interest from Ohio State, Florida, Memphis, Arkansas, Virginia, USC, and Marquette, amongst others. Ali is immediately eligible with two seasons left. This is a very solid start for the Dawgs, as Ali is a very solid addition to the team. Welcome aboard!