Pape N’Diaye

Bio

Position: Forward / Center

Height: 7’0”

Weight: 230

Hometown: Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Recruiting Class: 2024

Eligibility: Junior – 2 Years Remaining

Former Team: UNLV, Xavier

High School Rankings: 3* (88.9) – National: 153 – Center – 20

Transfer Portal Rankings: 3* (90) – National: 394 – Power Forward: 89

High School Career

• Arrived in the US from Ivory Coast in 2022
• Attended Trinity International High School in Las Vegas
• Invited to the Pangos All-American Camps
• Ranked as the 97th best prospect and the 15th best center in the 2024 class by 24 Sports

High School / AAU / International Highlights

2024-25 Season – UNLV

Games Played: 32

Games Started: 1

Minutes: 13.1

Points: 2.7

Rebounds: 3.7

Blocks: 1.1

2-Point %: 64

3-Point %: 43

Miscellaneous 2024-25 Stats

Highest Scoring Game: 11 vs Fresno State

Games with 10+ Points: 1

Games with 2+ Blocks: 9

Most Blocks in a Game: 3 vs Northwestern

Block Rate (per KenPom): 10.2 (led UNLV)

Total Blocks: 34

2025-26 Season – Xavier

Games Played: 29

Games Started: 0

Minutes: 9.4

Points: 2

Rebounds: 1.5

Blocks: 1.0

2-Point %: 50

3-Point %: 43

Miscellaneous 2024-25 Stats

Highest Scoring Game: 10 vs Creighton, Seton Hall

Games with 10+ Points: 2

Games with 2+ Blocks: 8

Most Blocks in a Game: 4 vs Missouri State

Block Rate (per KenPom): 10.7 (led Xavier)

Total Blocks: 28

College Highlights / Interviews

2026-27 Season Outlook

N’Diaye should provide defense and rebounding, as well as some spot-up shooting and rim finishing off the bench. He’s more skilled than you think.

Thoughts

Players like N’Diaye should start at a school like Belmont, learn the game, and then transfer up. Watching some of his films from UNLV and Xavier, you can see the physical skills, but he still looks hesitant on the court. Above everything else, he needed time on the court in order to figure out how to translate those skills into on-court success.

Instead, he started at UNLV and then moved on to Xavier. Physically, he was fine at those schools, but he was never going to be more than a designated shot blocker off the bench. He’ll probably fill that role, at least initially, at K-State but there’s more to his game than just shot blocking.

Check out the film. When he’s confident and knows that he’s supposed to shoot the ball, he has a smooth-looking jumper. Seriously, check out the tape from Xavier. Those are pure pick-and-pop jumpers from a 7’0” shot-blocking specialist. This is a case where you bring him in for his primary skill, which is shot blocking, and then see if anything else in his game translates. If all he can do is block shots, that’s super useful! He’s shown the ability to block shots at a high level already in his career. If he gets a little more comfortable on the court and he finds some open jumpers in this offense, he could be more!

N’Diaye has an established floor with his shot-blocking and still has a ton of offensive upside. Coaches are turning over every rock they can find in search of a functional big man. The Wildcats managed to snag a guy with experience and an elite skill (shot blocking) who won’t gum up the offense because he can, in theory, hit the outside jumper.

This was a great addition to the back end of the rotation with the potential to provide more.