MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball program strengthened its 2024-25 roster today as head coach Jeremy Shulman announced the signing of freshman guard Pedro Santos.
Santos is a 6-7, 180-pound guard out of Porto, Portugal who has prepped at Colégio Júlio Dinis. He becomes the first freshman and 11th newcomer of the 2024-25 Skyhawk signing class under Shulman, who was hired as the 13th head coach in school history on March 27.
“We are so excited to welcome Pedro to the Skyhawk family,” Shulman said. “He is an amazing person who excels in so many ways on the court – at 6-7, he can handle and shoot while possessing an extremely high basketball IQ. The future is bright here at UT Martin for Pedro.”
Santos is the fifth UT Martin signee to boast significant international experience as he represented his native Portugal in several marquee high-level events. At the FIBA U18 European Championship in July 2023, he averaged 13.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 0.9 assists per outing over seven games. He tossed in 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting against Bulgaria, knocking down four of his five attempts from three-point range. He also added 17 points (on 7-for-11 shooting) and eight rebounds against Switzerland to go along with a near double-double (10 points, nine rebounds) against Bulgaria. He additionally tallied four multi-steal performances, including four swipes against Belgium.
Santos also played eight games in the 2022 FIBA U18 European Championship tournament and saw playing time in four contests during the U16 Euro Challengers. In the latter event, he averaged 6.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 2.8 steals per outing.
For the last two seasons, Santos has played in the Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol. He suited up for FC Porto Ferpinta during the 2022-23 campaign before playing the 2023-24 season for Imortal Albufeira. He averaged 15.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.7 steals over 20 games for the Imortal U23 team this season before joining the Imortal Albufeira squad.
Santos joins Lamine Niang (Cal State Northridge), Stefano Faloppa (Monroe College), Tarence Guinyard (Florida State College at Jacksonville), AJ Hopkins (Florida SouthWestern State College), Afan Trnka (Eastern Florida State College), Andrija Bukumirović (Eastern Florida State College), Matija Žužic (Eastern Florida State College), Josué Grullon (Daytona State College), Vladimer Salaridze (UC Riverside) and Carlos Cortijo (Eastern Florida State College) in Shulman’s first signing class.
