Cal Poly basketball recruit shines at Mission Prep Christmas Classic
While Cal Poly was getting ready to take on Washington on Tuesday night in Seattle, one of their recruits was having a big game back in San Luis Obispo.
Austin Galuppo, a junior guard for West Ranch in Valencia, scored a game-high 19 points in a loss to Kingwood Christian Life Center (Texas) in the Mission Prep Christmas Classic.
Galuppo, an athletic 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds, said he has received a formal scholarship offer from Cal Poly.
“I have been up here twice already,” said Galuppo after the game, adding he used to live in downtown San Luis Obispo as a child. “I was out here for a whole day, toured the campus, met the team, watched their practice and everything. They said they were trying to come watch my game, but they are out of town.”
Galuppo said he is also talking to San Jose State and “most of the Ivy League schools.”
It’s not hard to see why Cal Poly and others are interested. Galuppo showed off his 3-point shooting Tuesday, hitting three from distance on the way to an 11-point first quarter.
He also showed off an impressive vertical leap and nearly brought the house down with two monstrous dunk attempts that just missed.
“The dudes on the other team were like, ‘I wish you would have made those,’ ” Galuppo said with a laugh. “They were like, ‘I ain’t never seen a white boy jump like that.’ ”
He followed up his Tuesday performance with a 33-point game on Wednesday against St. Joseph from Santa Maria. Galuppo’s three-point shot from NBA range with 37 seconds left gave West Ranch a three-point lead and an eventual 74-69 win.
Galuppo remains undeclared and said he plans to wait a while before choosing a college. Fans who want to get a look at the potential future of Cal Poly basketball can check him out at noon Wednesday at Mission Prep when West Ranch will take on the loser of the St. Joseph-Lincoln game.
This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Cal Poly basketball recruit shines at Mission Prep Christmas Classic."