2021 five-star guard Hunter Sallis commits to Gonzaga

One more guard option is off the table for John Calipari and the Kentucky basketball program, as 2021 five-star prospect Hunter Sallis has officially committed to Gonzaga.

Despite being seen as a heavy favorite last summer and going into the fall, Kentucky’s momentum shifted away from the Wildcats and toward Gonzaga this winter, with the Bulldogs picking up 10 consecutive FutureCast picks over at Rivals.com and seven straight Crystal Ball picks at 247Sports.com.

Today, the top-ten prospect – Sallis is the No. 6 overall prospect in 247Sports’ Composite Rankings – made it official, choosing Gonzaga at a commitment ceremony at his high school this morning.

“Spokane reminds me a lot of Omaha. Not much going except basketball and school. That’s the way I like it,” he told ESPN’s Paul Biancardi this morning. 

Last October, Sallis told KSR that he liked Kentucky’s offense and the versatility he could add to Calipari’s system in Lexington.

“I could see myself playing both (guard positions), especially in a system like Kentucky,” Sallis said. “We’ve been watching, there’s not really one designated point guard, one of the guards just gets the ball and they just run. That’s a system I feel like I could fit in well because I could have the ball and I could also be without it. Coach Joel (Justus) told me those are the types of guards that they recruit, the really versatile ones. I feel like it’s a good fit.”

“Part of their pitch is that they play such a fast-paced game with a lot of perimeter players, and he likes that style of play where it’s very guard-oriented,” Sallis’ high school coach, Tim Cannon added. “It’s a lot of guards, a lot of fast breaks. Now, I think a lot of people play that way, but [Hunter] did say specifically that he really likes that style of offense and the ability to fast break, not have things clogged up in the middle, stuff like that. He definitely likes their style of play.”

Unfortunately for Kentucky, it was Gonzaga’s offense that turned heads nationally this season, with the Bulldogs averaging a whopping 92.1 points per game en route to an undefeated regular season and back-to-back blowout victories to open the NCAA Tournament.

Now just four wins away from pulling off college basketball’s first undefeated season since Indiana ran the table in 1975-76, Gonzaga has added yet another top-ten prospect and arguably the No. 1 point guard in the class of 2021 in Sallis.