Guard Phoenix Stotijn committed to Arkansas women’s basketball coach Mike Neighbors and staff a few weeks ago after considering several other major programs.
Stotijn, 5-9, of Haarlem, Netherlands, had other offers from schools such as Missouri, West Virginia, Texas Tech, Arizona, Central Florida, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Washington State and other before picking the Razorbacks.
She made official visits to Arkansas, Central Florida and West Virginia.
While playing for the 18-under Netherlands National Team in the 2023 European Championships, Stotijn averaged 15 points, 2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 31.9% from three-point range.
Stotijn had a high of 27 points in a 74-53 victory over the United Kingdom. She hit 7 of 9 threes in 20 minutes on July 7.
Neighbors was on hand to watch Stotijn during the European Championships in addition to the 3-on-3 world championships in Hungary, where Neighbors first saw her.
She’s the lone pledge for Arkansas in the class of 2024.
Nickname: Phoenix
Favorite thing about playing my position: Being able to make a lot of assists as well as score
Coach Mike Neighbors is: Great
My most embarrassing basketball moment: Falling forward at the free throw line while someone was shooting the free throw
Your playlist before games: Rod Wave and Lil Baby songs
My favorite TV show: Stranger Things
Love or hate rollercoasters: Love if they’re not too high
Where would you like to time travel: back to the past or to the future and why? To the past, so I could have started playing basketball at an earlier age and been even better
Two things that really irritate me: People smacking hard while eating and babies crying and screaming on the plane
If you could meet a famous person, who would it be: Justin Bieber
My hidden talent is: I’m pretty good at soccer
If you were a WWE wrestler, would you be a good or bad guy and why: The good guy just because I don’t want to be the bad guy hahaha
I will never ever eat: Coconut
My absolute favorite thing to eat: Burgers and fries
I’m terrified of: Heights
Love or hate horror movies and why: Love because its just fun to have a little excitement sometimes
Cat or dog person and why: Dog person because out of experience cats are boring and all they do is sleep and dogs aren’t boring
Do you think aliens exist: No
Best advice I’ve received: Hard work pays off
Role model and why: My mom because she came from nothing and worked so hard to where she is now the most famous female artist back home and pretty much has everything she always dreamed of having
People would be surprised that I: Have nine siblings