SAN DIEGO – Head men's basketball coach Brian Dutcher announced that Joshua Tomaić (pronounced toe-MY-itch) has signed an institutional Grant-In-Aid to attend San Diego State and join the men's basketball program. The 6-10, 235-pound forward and graduate transfer has one year of eligibility remaining and is available to play immediately.
"Joshua is the next in a long line of Aztec bigs that are long, athletic and versatile," Dutcher said. "He has many of the same qualities that Yanni (Wetzell) brought to last year's team. He can shoot the three, score on the block and handle the basketball. He is a very versatile player who should fit in seamlessly with our program and be a solid performer for San Diego State."
"During the recruiting process, I felt that I developed a real good relationship with Coach Dutcher and the entire staff," Tomaić said. "I like the style of basketball the team plays; it relates well to my game and the school was another big draw. I feel Coach Dutcher believes in me and my skills and I think SDSU is the perfect place to finish my college career."
Upon signing at Maryland in 2016, the native of Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain was reportedly the first Canarian to compete for an NCAA collegiate basketball program. Prior to arriving in the United States, he played at Canarias Basketball Academy (CBA) and averaged 19 points and 12 rebounds per game for the CBA U18 team that placed fifth in the Spanish National Championships.
Owning a 7-1 wingspan, Tomaić redshirted his freshman season at Maryland, in 2016-17, and represented Spain in the 2017 FIBA Americas U19 Championships in Cairo, Egypt. In his four seasons as a Terrapin, the team reached the postseason in 2017 and 2019 and posted a 1-2 record in the NCAA Tournament. He played a critical role in the team's 2019-20 Big Ten regular-season championship and was anticipating participating in the 2020 NCAA Tournament had the event not been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In three seasons of competition at Maryland, Tomaić appeared in 62 games, including two starts, and averaged 1.3 points and 1.1 rebounds in 5.7 minutes per appearance. He has been successful on 62.7 percent of his career field goal attempts, with a single season best of 72.7 percent last season. From beyond the three-point line he is a career 38.8 percent shooter which includes hitting 7-of-15 from distance (46.7 percent) in 2017-18. He scored a career-high 11 points at Ohio State on Jan. 11, 2018 and his best rebounding effort came that same season, versus Catholic University on Feb. 12, 2018, when he grabbed eight boards.
Tomaić can play multiple positions but is most comfortable at the stretch four, preferring to play facing the basket. He speaks Spanish, English, German and Croatian and will earn his undergraduate degree in information science from Maryland this summer but is undecided on what his course work will be in his master's program at San Diego State.