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PROVO — BYU basketball's newest addition has been cooking as head coach Mark Pope and the Cougars prepare to enter arguably the toughest conference in America.
UC Irvine wing Dawson Baker committed to BYU on Monday, announcing his commitment on Instagram a few hours before the university announced the signing of the California native who held offers from Utah, Utah State and Boise State, among others.
The all-time leader in points and steals at Capistrano Valley High with over 1,000 career points at the Division I level, Baker joins a Charlotte post Aly Khalifa in transferring to BYU following the departures of point guard Rudi Williams and wing Gideon George to graduation and redshirt Braeden Moore to Oral Roberts.
Khalifa and Baker join incoming freshman Jake Wahlin, a 6-foot-7 wing forward from Timpview High who is returning from a two-year church mission in the Baltic states. All three will have additional eligibility to potentially return in 2024-25 when the Cougars welcome back former Farmington four-star wing Collin Chandler and four-star forward Isaac Davis as freshmen.
Baker gives BYU an additional scoring wing to replace George, while Khalifa brings additional size to pair with returning posts Fousseyni Traore and Atiki Ally Atiki, while sophomore-to-be Dallin Hall is expected to take a step forward running the point following Williams' departure. A three-level scorer who drives to the rim frequently, Baker also has experience as a secondary ball handler.
The 6-foot-4 native of Coto De Casa, California, averaged 12.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 79 games over three years with UC Irvine, including 71 starts. His connection to BYU isn't deep, but his ties to the state of Utah run strong.
Baker served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Guam, and has two older brothers who played basketball in Utah — Dusty at Weber State from 2015-18, and Davis, who went from UC Irvine to Southern Utah from 2004-10, with a church mission in between.
The former two-time all-state player and Sea View League MVP in high school stayed closer to home for his college career, but won Big West Freshman of the Year honors in 2021 when he started 17 of 25 games as a true freshman and finished second with UC Irvine scoring 10.7 points per game with a team-high 39.6% 3-point field goal percentage.
Two years after not touching a basketball presented plenty of challenges for Baker, including doubt, he admitted in an interview after his freshman season. But as soon as he got back in the gym, those doubts quickly dissipated, he added.
"It was crazy. Not playing basketball for two years kind of made me doubt myself a little bit, like if I still got it," Baker said. "I doubted myself coming back, but as soon as I touched a basketball and got in the gym, it was like riding a bike. Everything came so naturally. … I was surprised at how naturally I adjusted from not playing for two years," he added. "It's just blessings from God, I feel like."
He went on to average a career-best 15.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game last year for the Anteaters, who finished 23-12 with a Big West regular-season title en route to first-round loss at Oregon in the first round of the NIT.
