Lithuanian National Team SF Petras Padegimas Decommits from UCF
The UCF Knights lost a promising prospect in the 2023 class with the decommitment of 6-foot-8 wing, Petras Padegimas from Lithuania.
Padegimas is an unranked prospect by most major industry ranking networks, but the 17-year-old playmaker earned his stripes last season as a member of the Lithuanian National Team in the U17 world cup.
Despite being a relatively smaller name in the recruiting sphere, Petras Padegimas possesses a unique combination of size and athleticism that can be scene among larger guards and forwards at the division I college level.
Padegimas averaged 11 points, and six rebounds per game on the Lithuanian National Team in his junior season, while helping his team to a fourth-place finish in the U17 world cup. In the previous season, Padegimas earned a youth league championship and won league MVP honors, after averaging 18 points and 10 rebounds per game.
With the departure of Padegimas, the UCF Knights have only one incoming freshman in the 2023 class, three-star forward Comeh Emuobor. The Knights bring in the 89th-ranked class of the 2023 cycle graded by 247Sports, which ranks 11th among Big 12 Conference members. While the Knights have one of the lowest-ranked incoming freshman classes in the Big 12 Conference this season, head coach Johnny Dawkins found some help in the transfer portal with the 51st-ranked class in the country.
