Home It’s official: UVA Basketball signs Tomas Woldetensae to NLI
Basketball

It’s official: UVA Basketball signs Tomas Woldetensae to NLI

Chris Graham

UVA Basketball coach Tony Bennett announced Monday the signing of guard Tomas Woldetensae (pronounced Thomas Woal-duh-TEN-sigh) to a National Letter of Intent with the national champion Cavaliers.

“We are excited to welcome Tomas into the Virginia men’s basketball family,” Bennett said. “Tomas is a talented guard who is a complete player. Earning a degree from UVA is important to Tomas and his family, and we’re looking forward to him joining our program this fall.”

In 2018-19, Woldetensae (Bologna, Italy) earned National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) First-Team All-America honors after averaging 17.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists for Indian Hills Community College (Ottumwa, Iowa). Woldetensae (6-5, 195) shot 47 percent from the field, 47.6 percent from 3-point range and 88.5 percent from the charity strip for Indian Hills, which advanced to the second round of the NJCAA National Tournament. Woldetensae, who was also named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches NJCAA All-America team, was the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) Player of the Year and member of the ICCAC all-league team.

Woldetensae averaged 8.8 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists during his freshman season at Indian Hills in 2017-18. He shot 39.4 percent from 3-point range and 89.3 percent from the free throw line.

Woldetensae holds the school record in free throw percentage (88.8%) and is third in 3-pointers (154). Indian Hills went 60-8 with a pair of regular-season conference titles and one postseason tournament title. Indian Hills advanced to the NJCAA National Tournament in each of Woldetensae’s two seasons at Indian Hills.

Prior to Indian Hills, Woldetensae played two seasons at Victory Rock Prep in Bradenton, Fla.

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Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].

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