By SAM LANCE
MESA, AZ — The biggest shot of Nike EYBL Session 1 may have belonged to five-star forward Tajh Ariza. With his team down one point, 12 seconds remaining and the shot clock winding down, Ariza pulled up just in front of the 3-point line and drained a jumper.
Team WhyNot was able to close out the game after Ariza gave them the lead, and the program finished Session 1 with undefeated record. Ariza had a huge hand in their success.
“I want to win Peach for sure,” Ariza said of his goals this summer. “That’s really all I want to do. I just want to win.”
Next high school season, Ariza will be joining his five-star WhyNot teammate Christian Collins at St. John Bosco (CA).
“That’s my brother,” Ariza said. “He just works hard, does everything he can to win. We went to the same school, but honestly we never really got to play with each other. So this is our first real time being brothers, playing with each other. So I’m just looking forward to playing with him. Just going all the way, winning state. Starting something new.”
Ariza had several schools in to see him during his junior year at Westchester Senior (CA) including Alabama, Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky, Oregon, Texas and USC, among others. Ariza hasn’t taken any visits yet and plans to do so during the college football season. The five-star broke down a few of these programs:
Arkansas: “Coach [John] Calipari just talked to me a little bit about the program, let me know how it’s going to be, what he likes about my game, what I can improve on. He just likes that I’m versatile. I can rebound, get out and run, shoot the ball, spread the floor, pass. That’s some of things he told me. And defend.”
Duke: “They’ve been around for a while. Winning program. Great program.”
Michigan: “They are a great program. They have a lot of 2025’s coming in. Trey McKenney and a couple others I think. So they’re going to be all right, pretty solid.”
Oregon: “Just showing interest, letting me know they really like me. That I really fit into their program.” Assistant coach Tony Stubblefield mainly in contact.
Texas: “They were just in to see me the other day. Sean Miller and David Miller. So that’s a pretty good program for me too. They play freshman, especially with that coaching staff. It’s been a good program and a lot of people come out of there.”
Kentucky sent out Mark Pope and assistant coach Jason Hart to see Ariza.
“A lot of schools are kind of saying the same thing,” Ariza said. “You know how it goes. But I think for me its about weeding out the ones that I feel aren’t really serious about me and know what my plan is.”
Ariza said one of his “biggest needs” is going to a school where he’ll play as a freshman.
“Not necessarily being handed the keys, I want to earn it, but just knowing they’ll have some trust in me and believe in me,” Ariza said.
There are no timetables for Ariza’s recruitment.
“I think I want to wait it out, especially with how the transfer portal is going and stuff,” Ariza said. “So just waiting and weighing out my options, seeing what the best fit for me is.”
Ariza recently shined at the Nike Hoop Summit in Oregon. He was one of the youngest players to participate in the event but still made a huge impact for Team World. Ariza scored 11 points, grabbed two steals and blocked a shot in just 12 minutes of action.
“It was rough for me at first to be honest just adjusting to being the youngest one there,” Ariza said. “And I was also going through growing pains, back problems. So just fighting through that showed me a lot about myself. And then finally getting to the game, just anchoring my defense since, you know, being the youngest one there I have to find my role and my niche. I just found it and locked in on that and showed everybody what I can do.”
Ariza is up to 6-foot-9 without shoes and may still be growing. His father, Trevor Ariza, who had a long NBA career and consistently popped up on Defensive Player of the Year leaderboards, stands at 6-foot-8.
Ariza is ranked the No. 4 overall prospect in the 2026 class by 247Sports.
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