Big Cal Basketball Recruiting Weekend: Air Force Transfer Rytis Petraitis Commits

The 6-7 forward averaged 15.3 points as a sophomore last season.

Rytis Petraitis / Photo by Isaiah J. Downing, USA Today

A big weekend for Cal basketball got better still with news that Air Force transfer Rytis Petraitis will play for the Bears next season.

Joe Tipton of on3Sports reported the news on Sunday, according to a source. Petraitis subsequently confirmed his commitment on Twitter.

Petraitis, a 6-foot-7 forward, averaged 15.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists as a sophomore this past season and will join a Cal roster given a huge boost Saturday with a commitment from Stanford transfer Andrej Stojakovic.

Petraitis — whose name is pronounced REE-tis Peh-TRY-tis — reportedly picked Cal over Texas.

He missed last season’s first seven games with a shoulder injury before making his debut on Nov. 26 by scoring 18 points in a 58-57 win at South Dakota.

A native of Arlington, Texas, Petraitis had a career-high 27 points against Colorado State and delivered a triple-double with 18 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists vs. UNLV.

His scoring numbers are all the more impressive because Air Force plays at a slow pace, finishing last in the Mountain West Conference in scoring this season.

Over two seasons, Petraitis shot 48 percent from the field and 34 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.

As a freshman, Petraitis averaged 10.4 points and 6.2 rebounds, with seven double-doubles. He was named MWC freshman of the week six times in 2022-23.

His parents, Ramas and Reda Patraitis, both played basketball at Oregon State. Ramas Petraitis averaged 5.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in 54 starts with the OSU men’s team during the 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons.

Coach Mark Madsen now has commitments from eight transfer players, including one junior college player, to go with signed incoming three-star freshman point guard Jeremiah Wilkinson and returnees Devin Curtis and Vladimir Pavlovic, both freshmen last season.

Stojakovic, a 6-7 small forward, averaged 7.8 points and 3.4 rebounds last season as a freshman at Stanford. He is a former four-star prospect out of Jesuit High School in Sacramento and the son of retired NBA star Peja Stojakovic.