The Kentucky Wildcats are on the board, this time landing a commitment from international big man Ousmane N’Diaye. It was actually announced by UK Sports Network on Friday and retweeted by the Kentucky men’s basketball Twitter handle, meaning the news was effectively broken by UK.
N’Diaye is a 22-year-old from Senegal who stands 6-foot-11 and weighs 210 pounds. Playing overseas for Vanoli Cremona this past season in Lega Basket Serie A, N’Diaye averaged 10.2 points on 42.1% shooting from the field (32.1% on 5.0 attempts per game), 6.7 rebounds, 0.9 steals, and 0.5 blocks in 27.3 minutes per game.
One hurdle Kentucky must clear is getting N’Diaye eligible for next season, as the NCAA has not yet made a ruling on him. However, KSR’s Jacob Polacheck says his sources are confident that clearance will eventually be granted. Kentucky clearly feels the same way if Mark Pope is willing to take a commitment now with other options still available, and that’s before the 5-in-5 NCAA ruling could open up another wave of transfer portal entries.
Kentucky still has a lot of work to do with roster construction, but this looks like a big-time get for a frontcourt that desperately needed a shot in the arm. N’Diaye is big enough to play the 5 but has enough shooting capability to play the 4 spot, where the Wildcats severely lacked shooting this past season.
Check out the newest Wildcat in action below!
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