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Croatian basketball player Michael Ruzic to commit to LSU

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones05/20/26brianjones_93

Croatian basketball player Michael Ruzic will commit to LSU, On3 has learned. Ruzic did not go through the NBA Draft process again after withdrawing last year.

Ruzic has been playing professionally overseas for the last three seasons. He played for Joventut Badalona, a team from the Liga ACB in Spain. This past season, Ruzic averaged 6.5 point and 3.8 rebounds per game.

In his 2025 NBA Draft profile, Michael Ruzic was described as “tall with a high release point on his jumper, which is smooth and the highlight of his game. He can use that shooting threat as an advantage to cut as well, finishing around the basket with relative ease due to his length. That length also gives him defensive upside as a shot-blocker.”

Ruzic was projected to be a “stretch five at the NBA level,” with “length shooting and shot-blocking potential.” If he hadn’t withdrawn from the draft, Ruzic would have been selected in the second round.

Michael Ruzic will join Will Wade in his second stint at LSU

Ruzic will join an LSU team that is rebuilding its roster under head coach Will Wade. LSU hired Wade in March after spending the last season at NC State. He was the Tigers’ head coach from 2017 to 2022, but was fired after the NCAA served a notice of allegations based on the investigations into reports of recruiting violations.

It’s not surprising that Wade went after Ruzic since he recently talked about getting more international players. “This year I’m going to lean a little heavier on the international route,” Wade said on Jon Rothstein’s Inside College Basketball Now podcast. “This will be the last year some of those guys will be eligible. So we’re going to lean a little heavier on the international route. Those kids have a lot of experience. There’s just some natural things that they’ve learned over there that really help college basketball and can translate to us in college basketball.

“We’re gonna certainly get some of the best guys we can from the transfer portal. We’ve gotten a couple, and we’re going to try to get a couple more, but we’re going to supplement that with some overseas guys.”