Providence basketball bolsters its front court again; here's the team's latest commit
Providence College has gone international while adding to its 2024 recruiting class.
Anton Bonke has enrolled at the school for second semester, claiming the open 13th scholarship the Friars carried into this season. He will practice with the team and be eligible to make his debut at the start of the 2024-25 campaign.
Bonke is a 7-foot-2 center from Vanuatu, an archipelago located east of mainland Australia and west of Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean. He’s relatively new to basketball. The majority of his previous athletic background came in competitive rowing. Bonke just completed his first semester at Eastern Arizona College, appearing in 17 games with the Gila Monsters.
“We believe that Anton has the potential to be an impactful player for our team,” Providence coach Kim English said in a statement. “He has great size and strength, which is essential in the Big East. It will be beneficial to have him practicing with the team through the remainder of the 2023-24 season.”
Bonke took a visit to Providence in December. He sat in the front row behind the bench while the Friars dispatched Marquette in their league opener, an impressive 72-57 victory. Bonke carries three years of eligibility, joins small forward Ryan Mela among Providence’s next group of newcomers and is the second big man to commit in less than a week, joining four-star 2025 center Oswin Erhunmwunse.
Bonke started attracting college attention in October. He claimed early offers from Tarleton State, Northern Arizona, Troy, Kansas City, Southern Miss and Southern Utah. The Friars, BYU and San Jose State came calling in November and a conference rival, Xavier, extended Bonke’s most recent offer in early January.
Bonke started in all but one of his appearances for Eastern Arizona, a junior college program in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference. He averaged 9.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game. Bonke shot 58.5% from the field, hit double figures 10 times and collected a season-high 23 points against the College of Southern Nevada in early November.
Providence does have some staff ties to Bonke’s home region. Assistant coach Nate Tomlinson is an Australia native who played professionally in his home country from 2012-18 and coached for a year in China. The Gila Monters count six international players on their roster — Bonke and another pair from Australia make up half of that contingent.
More: Without Bryce Hopkins, can Kim English and Providence basketball figure out a path forward?
More: Providence basketball had chance to right the ship, but that's not what happened vs. Xavier
Bonke will help reinforce a Providence frontcourt that looks a touch thin entering next season. Bryce Hopkins (left knee) could miss some time at the tail end of his recovery from ACL surgery. Josh Oduro will exhaust his eligibility, Rafael Castro has yet to secure major minutes and the freshman pair of Eli DeLaurier and Donovan Santoro remains largely unknown.
Mela is prepping at The Newman School in Boston and enjoyed a strong showing this weekend at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield. Erhunmwunse also played in the event with his defending national prep champions at Putnam Science. English and assistant coach Dennis Felton were among the staff members in attendance at various points around an 85-65 home loss to the Musketeers on Saturday.
Erhunmwunse selected the Friars ahead of conference rival Creighton, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma. According to 247Sports, he's the highest-ranked pledge to Providence since Kris Dunn and Ricky Ledo in 2012. Providence is a finalist for or has hosted several other elite 2025 prospects — point guards Nigel James and Mikel Brown Jr., small forwards Efeosa Oliogu and Jamier Jones and Jeremiah Fears, another point guard who Felton watched this weekend.
On X: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence lands a 7-2 commit from the island nation of Vanuatu
