The Oregon women’s basketball team picked up its first verbal commitment of the 2026 recruiting class with La’u Pele Falatea announcing her decision June 24 on Instagram.
Falatea is the younger sister of former Duck Nani, who played one season for Oregon in 2024-25 after transferring from BYU.
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The younger Falatea averaged 19.6 points, 5.6 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 4.9 steals per game for West High in Salt Lake City last season, leading her team in the 5A Utah championship game.
She is a two-time first-team all-state player, according to the Deseret News, and said Oregon had been her dream school since third grade.
The point guard had a feeling she was ready to lock in her commitment to Oregon and head coach Kelly Graves following her official visit to Eugene in April.
“I’ve been watching him since I was younger,” Falatea said of Graves’ coaching. “This has been my dream school since I was in like third grade, since I started basketball and I’ve always watched him coach, just being able to see how good of a coach he is and being able to talk to him firsthand was just really a blessing.”
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Falatea said Nani told her that her one-year experience in Eugene was completely positive, from the coaches, to the players, to the culture.
She describes herself as a facilitator that likes to drive, but still with knockdown shooting ability.
“I just love having the ball in my hands and be able to give it to my teammates and getting them to score,” Falatea said. “I love scoring, I just think it’s really fun being able to lead the team from on top of the court.”
Falatea intends to sign with Oregon during the early signing period in November and would join the team after her senior season in the fall of 2026.
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Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: La’u Pele Falatea commits to Oregon women’s basketball
