Abu Kigab continues the strong Canadian pipeline within the Oregon basketball program. He follows an incredible UO tradition from the Great North that includes basketball professionals like Chris Boucher, Dillon Brooks and Dylan Ennis.

Welcome to our newest series! In the spirit of the upcoming basketball season, ATQ takes a look at five freshmen added to the Ducks’ 2017-18 roster. We will also give redshirt freshman M.J. Cage his rightful preview as our special sixth edition to our new segment.

Chronologically, we started with No. 0 Troy Brown. Now, we move onto the No. 24 spot.

OH CANADA

R.J. Barrett may have stolen the show at the U19 World Cup this summer, but Abu Kigab played the Scottie Pippen role to Canada’s Michael Jordan. Kigab averaged a double-double for the World Cup in Cairo.

The former Prolific Prep star amassed 14.7 PPG, 10.6 RPG and 2.3 APG. Kigab registered a double-double in four of his seven games played. He finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and a stolen pass vs Italy in the gold medal game.

BLADES OF STEEL?

The hockey capital of the world is churning out basketball prospects at an alarming rate! We have never seen anything like the current class of basketball talent in Canada. Their U19 gold medal win was the first achieved in basketball in Canadian history.

KNOW YOUR ROLE

Kigab was called a “project” last season, but has vastly improved over the last 365 days. He showed great maturity alongside a future NBA lottery pick in Barrett. During his first year on campus, I can see him coming off the bench behind Vic Bailey Jr..

PLAYER COMPARISON

It’s been said many times many ways, 6-foot-6 Kigab looks like a clone of the great Dillon Brooks, down to the jersey number. He may take more time to develop, but Abu could be just as dangerous on the hardwood. His jump shot from a structural standpoint is good. Yet, the path of his shot is not always consistent. When the jumper becomes more efficient, he will find heavy minutes waiting for him in Altman’s rotation. He’s further along defensively, but still needs work on his footwork and rebounding positioning. Nevertheless, he has lower-body strength that can’t be taught. For someone so young, he won’t be pushed around in the paint.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Last but certainly not least, let’s take a look at some of Kigab’s highlights over his high school career at Prolific Prep. The 4-star recruit was rated as high as 81 by scouting outlets. He played at Prolific Prep, which was created for current Phoenix Suns’ forward Josh Jackson.

The next 14 days at ATQ will be jam-packed with Oregon basketball prep, including player profiles, predictions, previews, interviews, breakdowns and a few history lessons. Every day, we will have something new as we count you down to opening night.

Ready or not? We’re less than a month away from the 2017-18 season! If you need your Duck basketball fix asap, join us at MKA on Saturday for a great cause as Oregon hosts Idaho in an exhibition at 11:00 a.m. local time. The women tip at 9:30 a.m. vs PSU.

Stay tuned, if you want to; Twitter @TheQuackFiend Gram @eugene_levys_eyebrows