Throughout the summer, the Pitt staff has been actively searching for a wing in the class of 2022 to play alongside current commit Judah Mintz.
One of the wings that the staff has been recruiting for a while now and recently offered is Sadiku Ibine Ayo, a 6-foot-7, 205-pound prospect from Ghana, West Africa.
Ayo attends Our Saviour Lutheran in the Bronx, New York, alongside multiple other prospects whom Pitt has looked at in the class of 2022. The school is also home to current Panther Max Amadasun, who played there back before his time at Pitt.
Ayo picked up the offer from Pitt a few weeks ago after a game during the live period at Blair Academy in New Jersey.
“Coach Tim, after the game, he came up to me and spoke to me and said it was a really good game and that he wanted to speak to my guardian,” Ayo told Pittsburgh Sports Now. Pitt already had interest in me, they have had interest in me since my freshman, sophomore year, because they would always come to my games to see Max Amadasun. They liked my game since then. Then I had a great junior year and live period and after the live period they offered me.”
Since the offer, Pitt has still continued to recruit him, especially after seeing his strong performance in the Nike EYBL.
“Tim [O’Toole] always talks to my guardian,” he said. “All the coaches talk to my high school coach, my AAU coach, and my guardian. The last time they spoke to us was around Peach Jam. They came down to watch all of our games.”
In addition to Pitt, Ayo also holds offers from Nebraska, Seton Hall, Auburn, St. Johns, Bryant, and Manhattan, and is planning to visit some of those schools in the coming months.
“Seton Hall is my first visit,” he said. “I think Seton Hall, UNC-Charlotte, Auburn, and Pitt. I might take a visit to St. Johns, but I don’t really know about it yet.”
In fact, this upcoming trip will not be the first time Ayo has been to Pitt. Along with several of his teammates from Our Saviour Lutheran, he took a trip to see the campus a few years back.
“My freshman year we went down there to watch a game at Pittsburgh,” he said. “We checked out the facilities and everything. The relationship they have with our school is great.”
The rising senior prospect has been on Pitt’s radar for a while now for good reason, and he has seen his recruitment grow more and more this summer due to outstanding play on the circuit.
“I kind of do a lot of stuff,” Ayo said about his game. “Coaches call me Mr. Everything because I am a versatile wing and I play both ends of the floor. I am a two-way player. I can score when I want to or when my team wants me to score, I can shoot the ball, and I can put the ball on the floor and drive down to the rim hard. I can really do a lot of stuff. I can also defend one through five.”
As for a commitment timeline, Ayo said that he plans to commit to a school after he is done with his visits during September.
