By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The Most Valuable Player of the Basketball Without Borders Europe 2024 and of the Ulm tournament of the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague 2025, Mathieu Grujicic, emerged as the latest promising European prospect to move his talents to the NCAA.
The 18-year-old swingman has committed to Ohio State, as reported by several media outlets on Tuesday, including ESPN.
Playing for FC Barcelona, he debuted in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, logging two appearances in the 2024-25 Regular Season and tallying three points. In addition, he played in three games of Spain’s Liga Endesa Regular Season. In 16 games with Barca B in Tercera FEB, he put 11.1 points per contest with 44.1% from the field, including 35.9% from beyond the arc, apart from 1.9 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.
Growing up in Germany, his junior career went from hometown ALBA Berlin to the Catalonia giant where he eventually debuted at the professional level. The next challenge for the young upstart will be with the Buckeyes, further expanding his career to college basketball in the United States.
In international action, he represented Germany in the FIBA U16 European Championship 2023, averaging 14.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest. At the senior level, he remains eligible for Serbia and France, in addition to possibly extending the link with Germany.
Christoph Tilly, a fellow youth product of ALBA, is also set to play for Ohio State during the 2025-26 season, after three NCAA seasons with Santa Clara.
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net