KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – University of Tennessee head men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes announced Wednesday the signing of Clarence Massamba.
A guard from Paris, Massamba is currently part of the prestigious AS Monaco Basket organization. He is the fifth member of Tennessee’s 2025 high school class, including the first from overseas.
“We are happy to welcome Clarence and his family to the Tennessee basketball program. Once we identified Clarence as a player of interest, we immediately became excited about his impressive upside,” Barnes said. “He is a long, athletic, versatile guard who can really attack in the open court. He is good with the ball in his hands, yet also possesses the ability to excel without it. Clarence has a nice feel for the game and an excellent basketball IQ. He is a hard-working, driven young man who plays with a chip on his shoulder and our fans will love seeing the way he competes.”
Massamba has played in 22 games for Monaco’s U21 team in the LNB Espoirs league during the 2024-25 campaign, notching 15 starts. He is averaging 11.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 steals in 24.2 minutes per game, while shooting 45.9 percent (94-of-205) from the field.
The 6-foot-5, 185-pounder has scored in double figures 12 times, with 15-plus points on seven occasions and 20-plus in four outings. Massamba notched season bests in points, made field goals and made 3-pointers Feb. 22 against Espoirs Chalon-Saone, tallying 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting clip, including a 5-of-7 ledger from deep. He also tied season highs with seven rebounds and three steals.
Most recently, Massamba had 20 points April 27 versus Espoirs Limoges, connecting on all nine of his shots inside the arc and both his free throws.
Massamba has made three appearances this season with Monaco at the LNB Élite level, the top league France and one of the best in the world.
Labeled a three-star recruit by ESPN, Massamba takes high school classes through Edmentum. He spent the prior two seasons at The Rock School in Gainesville, Fla.
As a junior, Massamba led The Rock School to a Sunshine Independent Athletic Association (SIAA) title with a 58-47 win over DME Academy, en route to a 25-8 final record. He collected SIAA Second Team All-State accolades after averaging 13.0 points, a team-best 5.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game, plus shot 53.0 percent from the field and 42.0 percent beyond the arc.
Massamba was named a 2023 Chick-Fil-A Classic All-Tournament Team designee after averaging 19.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game across three outings in Lexington, S.C. He shot 62.9 percent (22-of-35) from the field, including 60.0 percent (9-of-15) on 3-pointers. Massamba finished second in the elite tournament in made field goals, co-second in made 3-pointers, fourth in scoring, fourth in made 3-pointers (min. four 3PA) and sixth in field-goal percentage (min. 10 FGA).
Prior to committing to Tennessee, Massamba received recruiting interest from programs such as Duke, Kansas, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Virginia Tech and Xavier.
Tennessee has one prior letter winner from France in Yves Pons, a Fuveau native who competed under Barnes from 2017-21 and was the 2020 SEC Defensive Player of the Year. This is the second season in a row the Volunteers will have a European player, as Rovinj, Croatia, native Igor Miličić Jr., started 37 games for Tennessee in 2024-25.
Massamba joins Nate Ament, DeWayne Brown II, Amari Evans and Troy Henderson in the Volunteers’ prep recruiting class. Tennessee has also inked a trio of transfers in, Amaree Abram from Louisiana Tech, Jaylen Carey from Vanderbiltand Ja’Kobi Gillespie from Maryland.
