DAVIS, Calif. — UC Davis men's basketball head coach
Jim Les announced the addition of eight newcomers for the 2026-27 season, a class that spans six countries as the Aggies prepare for their first year in the Mountain West Conference.
The group brings backgrounds from France, Greece, Germany, Austria, Australia and Poland along with recent stops at Tennessee, San Francisco, Omaha and CSUN, joining a returning core of seven Aggies from last season's 19-14 squad.
"This group checks every box: size, skill, athleticism, and they're walking into a special moment for our program as we begin our inaugural Mountain West season," said Les. "Our staff is excited to get to work and build this team."
Clarence Massamba, a 6-5, guard from Paris, arrives after spending the 2025-26 season at Tennessee, where he appeared in 12 games for a Volunteers team that reached the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight and earned a spot on the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll. Before Knoxville, Massamba came up through the AS Monaco organization, logging 29 games with the club's under-21 side and three appearances with its top-division senior team in 2024-25. He prepped at The Rock School in Gainesville, Fla., as a sophomore and junior, where he earned all-state recognition and helped the program to a league title.
Veniamin Abosi, a 6-6, guard/forward from Heraklion, Greece, joins the Aggies after two seasons at San Francisco. Abosi appeared in 24 games for the Dons in 2025-26, averaging 5.0 points and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 40.4 percent from three-point range, highlighted by a 16-point, nine-rebound outing in a win over Portland. A product of the Olympiacos junior program in Piraeus, he represented Greece at both the under-16 and under-18 levels, averaging 9.7 points at the 2023 FIBA U18 European Championship.
Julian Margrave, a 6-10, forward from Louisburg, Kan., comes to Davis after spending the 2025-26 season at Omaha, where he earned NABC Honors Court recognition for his work in the classroom. Margrave began his college career with three seasons at South Alabama and prepped at New Hampton School in New Hampshire after earning all-state honors in Kansas.
Aleks Szymczyk, a 6-10, center from Frankfurt, Germany, gives the Aggies a familiar face in the frontcourt after facing UC Davis as a member of CSUN last season. Szymczyk appeared in 26 games for the Matadors in 2025-26 and shot a career-best 51.9 percent from the field. He began his career at Florida and spent the 2024-25 season at Charlotte before arriving in Northridge.
Nnadalu Noble, a 6-10 forward from Vienna, Austria, arrives after a postgraduate year at Hoosac School in New York and a season at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, two of the top prep programs in the Northeast. Noble developed with the Vienna D.C. Timberwolves, debuting in Austria's top professional division as a teenager, and helped the club's under-19 team to a national medal.
Caspian Jones, a 6-7 forward from Phoenix, joins the program following a postgraduate year at CATS Academy Boston. As a senior at St. Mary's High School in Phoenix, Jones averaged 17.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists while competing in Arizona's Open Division, the state's top classification.
Koby Moir, a 6-2 guard from Adelaide, Australia, spent 2026 as the starting point guard for the South Adelaide Panthers of NBL1 Central, running a senior men's professional league team as an 18-year-old. Moir represented Australia at the 2025 FIBA U17 Oceania Cup, earning a silver medal, and received the Patrick Baumann Sportsmanship Award at Basketball Without Borders Asia in Singapore.
Julian Dabrowski, a 6-9 forward/center from Warsaw, Poland, developed in the Legia Warszawa academy and was part of Legia teams that captured back-to-back Polish league championships in 2025 and 2026. Dabrowski averaged 12.4 points and 6.0 rebounds for Legia's second team in 2025-26, won a Polish under-19 club national title in March and earned a bronze medal with Poland at the 2024 FIBA U18 European Championship Division B.
The newcomers join returners
Brayden Fagbemi,
Connor Sevilla,
Jalen Stokes,
Chase Rawlins,
Ylan Esso-Essis,
Isaiah Chappell and
Omer Suljanovic as UC Davis opens its Mountain West era.
ABOUT UC DAVIS ATHLETICS
UC Davis, ranked No. 2 among public universities by the Wall Street Journal in the value of a college degree, is home to 40,000 undergraduate students and 12,000 employees. Ranked top in the United States in agriculture and forestry as well as No. 1 in veterinary medicine, UC Davis is located in a true California college town nestled between world-class destinations such as the San Francisco Bay Area, Napa Valley and Lake Tahoe. Over 650 Aggie student-athletes compete in 25 Division I varsity sports, with 16 sports transitioning to the Mountain West Conference beginning in 2026-27.
For more information, visit
https://ucdavisaggies.com/.