Saturday, 4 July 2020:

Australian teen giant Makur Maker has rejected offers from UCLA, the University of Kentucky and other elite US basketball programs and will play for Howard University.

It was a surprise move, but the athletic, 211cm tall, 19-year-old, five-star recruit wants to make a difference on and off the basketball court.

"I need to make the HBCU movement real so that others will follow," Maker wrote on Twitter.

Washington DC-based Howard is one of America's elite historically black colleges and universities.

It is not a college basketball power, but Maker hopes his decision will be a step toward making it one.

He called on 16-year-old Californian basketball prodigy Mikey Williams to commit to Howard.

"I hope I inspire guys like Mikey Williams to join me on this journey," Maker, the cousin of Australian Detroit Pistons big man Thon Maker, wrote.

Maker had been tossing up whether to enter October's NBA Draft or spend a year playing for a US college.

Maker's family is from South Sudan, he was born in Kenya, grew up in Australia and hopes to play for the Australian Olympic team in Tokyo next year.

He also plans to go into greater detail about his Howard decision with a round of interviews on US sports TV network ESPN on Thursday.

"I will exclusively explain my commitment to Howard on ESPN on a day of great importance to me: July 9th, South Sudan Independence Day," he wrote.

AAP