The No. 4 prospect in the Class of 2026 Alijah Arenas faced off against the No. 7 prospect Tajh Ariza in the 2024 Westside Tip-Off Classic High School Basketball tournament. The tournament features Top 10 2026 national recruits and 16 High School Basketball teams. However, the game between Chatsworth High School and Westchester was special because the 10x NBA All-Star James Harden was in attendance:
Furthermore, the 2009 NBA Champ and Alijah Arenas' father Gilbert Arenas also attended the game:
According to On3, there is a 17.4% chance that Tajh Ariza will land at USC. Their head coach, Eric Musselman, was also present.
The close contest finished in a 58-56 victory for Arenas' side Chatsworth. Towards the end of the third quarter, Westchester was behind by eight points but made a comeback to lead by one point, with less than a minute remaining on the clock. However, Arenas converted from the charity strike and put his team ahead. He finished with 25 points while Tajh Ariza had 14 points.
Arenas ranks No. 4 nationally, No. 2 in the shooting guard position and No. 3 in California. The 6-foot-4 guard has offers from top programs including Alabama, Arizona, West Virginia, Nebraska, California, Washington, Xavier, UCLA and more.
On3's recruitment prediction machine suggests that UCLA has the highest chance of landing Arenas (7.9%). They are followed by Fresno State (6.9%), California (5.9%) and Nevada with a 5% probability of landing the Chatsworth, CA native.
On the other hand, Ariza ranks at No. 7 nationally, No. 2 in the small forward position and No. 4 in California. The 6-foot-7 forward has 11 offers so far (according to 247Sports) from Arizona State, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and more. The Trojans lead the race to land the Westchester Senior High School player with a 17.4% chance, followed by UCLA (15.2%), UNLV (13%) and Arizona State (10.9%).
Alijah Arenas celebrates Harden's recent milestone
James Harden surpassed 2x NBA Champ Ray Allen for the second spot on the NBA's all-time 3-pointers made list. Harden achieved this feat with his first 3-pointer in the game against the Utah Jazz on Sunday.
Arenas took to Instagram to share a post by the Los Angeles Clippers highlighting Harden's achievement:
Arenas is rising the ranks steadily and has one more year left in high school before he has to make a decision on his collegiate career.