
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men’s basketball method has gained a signed grant-in-support from Lazar Stefanovic, a 6-foot-7 guard from Belgrade, Serbia, as declared on Saturday by Mick Cronin, The Michael Price tag Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach.
Lazar Stefanovic (pronounced lah-zar stef-ON-no-vitch) will transfer to UCLA immediately after expending his freshman and sophomore seasons at the University of Utah. Stefanovic will join the Bruins’ system as a junior in 2023-24.
“Lazar is a great child who seriously needed to be a Bruin,” Cronin stated. “He would like to acquire and work tough to enhance. Lazar can score and has been a extremely fantastic 3-stage shooter, which we need with the departure of our team’s seniors. I’ve been extremely impressed with Lazar as a player, anytime we have scouted him as an opponent. We are pretty energized to welcome him to UCLA, and we are content that he is now a Bruin.”
Stefanovic played in all 63 online games for Utah through the previous two seasons, creating 33 starts off. Most lately, he averaged 10.3 details, 3. rebounds and 2.7 assists for each sport in 32 contests as a sophomore in 2022-23. He shot 35.9 {b037f4174007d005f1ab9cb8d1aafc050eb5d7e8c07298e478acc145e540df6a} from 3-stage distance final year, which ranked No. 15 in the Pac-12. In addition, he knocked down 86.8 p.c of his absolutely free throw attempts (46-for-53). Stefanovic scored in double figures in 16 of 32 contests last year, totaling at least 20 details in 3 game titles.
By means of 63 job games at Utah, Stefanovic averaged 8.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2. helps per contest. He shot 36.7 p.c from the field and 33.8 p.c from 3-stage length (88-for-260). Stefanovic shot in excess of 83 p.c at the free throw line in each and every of his two seasons with the Runnin’ Utes, compiling a occupation proportion of 85.1 (86-for-101). In 2021-22, he was just one of five student-athletes named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Group.
Stefanovic has scored at the very least 10 factors in 26 career games – 16 contests as a sophomore (2022-23) and 10 game titles as a freshman (2021-22). He knocked down six 3-pointers in two games previous year, heading 6-for-8 from Jacksonville State (Dec. 8, 2022) and 6-for-14 from extended selection versus Stanford (Feb. 2, 2023). Stefanovic concluded that house contest in opposition to Stanford with a occupation-higher 26 details (10-for-22 FGs).
Stefanovic gets UCLA’s 3rd transfer student-athlete in the earlier 4 years, joining Johnny Juzang (summer season of 2020) and Myles Johnson (summer time of 2021). He arrived in the United States prior to the 2021-22 faculty calendar year with a great deal of FIBA expertise with the Serbian National Crew. Stefanovic most not long ago competed for the Serbian Countrywide Crew at the FIBA U19 Environment Championships in 2021 (averaged 12.4 factors, 4.3 rebounds in seven online games).
