Men's Basketball Adds Anthony Peoples Jr., Markell Alston
June 16, 2025 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men's basketball program has received signed grant-in-aid agreements from graduate transfer Anthony Peoples Jr. and incoming freshman Markell Alston, as announced on Monday by Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach.
Both Peoples Jr. and Alston will join UCLA's program for the upcoming 2025-26 season. Peoples Jr., from nearby Riverside County, has one year of eligibility remaining and will enroll as a graduate student at UCLA. He spent the past season at North Carolina Central University. Alston, who hails from New York, N.Y., graduated from Christ the King High School and will be a freshman this fall.
"We are excited to add both Anthony and Markell to the program this summer," Cronin said. "Both of these players are going to help our depth and provide an immediate impact in practice. Anthony has played in college for the past three seasons, and he can definitely help us in our frontcourt. He's from the Inland Empire and he was teammates several years ago at Corona Centennial with both Donovan Dent and Eric Freeny. I know that Anthony is excited to be back here in Southern California. Markell comes to us from New York, having played for Coach Joe Arbitello at Christ the King. He's shown versatility at the guard position and we look forward to having him with us in Westwood."
Peoples Jr., a 6-foot-9 forward from Eastvale, Calif., has played in 69 career collegiate games over the past three seasons. After taking a redshirt year at The Master's University (Santa Clarita, Calif.) in 2021-22, he played in 61 games over the next two seasons at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. As a redshirt sophomore in 2023-24 at Lewis-Clark State, Peoples Jr. tied for the team lead in blocks (24) and averaged 6.7 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Last season, Peoples Jr. played in eight games at North Carolina Central (Durham, N.C.). He averaged 5.0 points and 2.4 rebounds in 12.0 minutes per contest.
As a high school student-athlete, Peoples Jr. graduated from Corona Centennial in 2021 after having been a part of the Huskies' CIF state championship team (2021). In addition, Peoples Jr. was part of three league championship teams during his high school career at Corona Centennial. During his senior season, incoming UCLA teammate Donovan Dent was a junior, while Bruins' guard Eric Freeny was a freshman.
Alston, a 6-foot-1 guard from New York, played at Christ the King High School and also competed for the New York Gauchos (AAU). As a senior in 2024-25, Alston averaged 13.1 points per game and secured all-state honors from the New York State Sportswriters Association (Class AAA, seventh-team selection). Most recently, he helped lead Christ the King to the semifinals of the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) playoffs in New York. He was honored as second-team all-league selection, competing in New York's CHSAA. Two seasons ago, Alston played alongside Bruins' guard/forward Brandon Williams at Christ the King (2022-23).
Peoples Jr. and Alston will accompany a group of four student-athletes set to join UCLA's program this summer – incoming transfer students Xavier Booker (from Michigan State), Jamar Brown (from UMKC), Donovan Dent (from New Mexico) and Steven Jamerson II (from San Diego).
