Three-star big man Josh Ogundele commits to the Iowa Hawkeyes

Matthew Bain | Hawk Central

Show Caption Hide Caption Connor McCaffery's take on DePaul's hot-shooting night Iowa guard Connor McCaffery scored nine points in 23 minutes in a 93-78 loss to the Blue Demons.

Iowa men's basketball began the early signing period with some much-needed good news Wednesday morning.

Josh Ogundele, a three-star British big who plays his high school ball in Massachusetts, announced his commitment to the Hawkeyes via Twitter. He was also considering Rhode Island, Rutgers, Cincinnati and Providence.

Iowa offered Ogundele in late September and hosted him for an official visit the weekend of the Penn State football game, the same time as Oskaloosa big Xavier Foster. After his trip to Iowa City, Ogundele also took visits to Cincinnati, Rutgers and Providence, and he'd officially visited Rhode Island prior to Iowa City.

C O M M I T T E D ‼️ pic.twitter.com/p3ZP7V8g2L — Josh Ogundele (@damijosh2047) November 13, 2019

Ogundele, a 6-foot-10, 240-pounder, was a late-blooming prospect. His Iowa offer came Sept. 26. Cincinnati offered Oct. 2. Providence and Rutgers got involved recently, too. Rhode Island had been on him since June.

His commitment serves as good recruiting news for a program that needed it. Foster committed to Iowa State over Iowa on Monday, leaving the Hawkeyes without a top target for three years and a post player in 2020. Now, the sturdy and athletic Ogundele will be Iowa's 2020 anchor down low.

Following his official visit to Iowa, Ogundele told the Register that the idea of playing in the Big Ten Conference was a big-time attraction.

"Playing against top NBA competition every game," said Ogundele, who added that Iowa coaches see him playing in the NBA. "Obviously, I haven’t decided where I’m going. But if I was to go there, it’d be really good, playing against the kind of competition."

Ogundele becomes Iowa's fifth recruit in the 2020 class. He joins Chicago point guard Ahron Ulis, Indianapolis shooting guard Tony Perkins and twin Cedar Rapids wing products Keegan and Kris Murray.

Matthew Bain covers recruiting, Iowa/Iowa State athletics and Drake basketball for the Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Network. Contact him at mbain@dmreg.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewBain_.

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