University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball coach Dan Earl and his staff continue to attack the international ranks for prospects while building their roster for the 2026-27 season, now with a commitment from 6-foot-7 forward Lenny Anigbata from Germany.
Anigbata most recently played for Ludwigsburg in Germany’s top league for professional basketball. Just like France’s Yssam Moungalla, whose commitment to UTC was reported by the Times Free Press earlier this week, Anigbata is expected to be classified as a freshman for the Mocs.
The Mocs still have one roster spot available for next season, which could also go to an international player.
Anigbata played four seasons in the third-division German league, two with FC Bayern and two with Porsche Ludwigsburg. It was in his final season in 2024-25 that he made a jump, averaging 12.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and two assists per game. He had a game in which he scored 27 points on 10-for-19 shooting, and a few weeks later, Anigbata scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in another contest.
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His success allowed him to move up to his country’s top division, where he appeared in 31 contests. Anigbata averaged 2.5 points and 2.2 rebounds in 24 games this season.
The Mocs, who struggled this past season while going 13-9 overall and 7-11 in the Southern Conference play a year after winning the National Invitation Tournament, have added five players who will be freshmen next season and five players from the NCAA transfer portal. In addition, they have six players returning from last season: junior walk-on Houston Holland, sophomores Josh Bowman, Sean Cusano (who has had two seasons cut short due to injuries), Tate Darner and Liam Vitters (a walk-on player); and redshirt freshman Zach Bleshoy.
(READ MORE: Mocs hoops continues to add with Pepperdine transfer big man)
Holland and Vitters don’t count towards UTC’s roster number because they were grandfathered in prior to the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit settlement going into effect last summer, when one of the results was the number of total players per men’s basketball team being capped at 15.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.
Gene has covered sports in the Chattanooga area since 2008 and has ascended from covering preps to colleges in his time. He primarily covers UTC athletics, a job he’s held from 2013-18 and again since 2020, having spent two seasons covering Tennessee pre-pandemic. Gene played four seasons of college basketball and has a 20-year son named Judah who plays at Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri.
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