Tag: Kebba Njie

Kebba Njie to make Notre Dame debut against Maryland Eastern Shore

Good news for the Irish.

Notre Dame was missing some of its height during its first four games, which it split. That issue will be resolved beginning Wednesday against Maryland Eastern Shore. [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag], the 6-foot-10 forward who transferred from Penn State after [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] was hired from there, has recovered from his injury and will play according CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein:

Shrewsberry alluded to this possibility when he met with the media Tuesday:

“He did a bunch of rehab stuff (in New York). He’s practiced with us the last couple of days. Barring any setbacks, we hope to have him here (Wednesday) and beyond. We do need him. We need his voice. We need his rebounding, his ability to get us easy baskets in the paint.

He settles us a little bit. His presence defensively, he’s probably our most important defensive piece. We’ll put him in a bubble the next couple days and hope nobody bumps into him.”

Well, he’s healthy enough to play now. That’s good news for everybody.

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Notre Dame opens Shrewsberry era with tough win over Niagara

That’s the right way to start the year.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Nobody is expecting anything to come easy in [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag]’s first season heading Notre Dame. With a roster having come together on the fly, there will be a lot of tough days and growing pains. For now though, the Irish will be happy to start their new coach’s tenure with a hard-fought 70-63 win over Niagara.

The Irish, playing without [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag], never led in the first half and didn’t hold a lead until more than six minutes had gone by in the second. They were up front by as much as six midway through the frame before the Purple Eagles tied it at 51 a few minutes later. One only could guess how this one would end.

Even when the Irish regained a four-point lead late, the Eagles refused to go away, cutting that deficit in half with 4:05 remaining. Fortunately, the Irish made all the right plays in the final few minutes and, despite some tense moments towards the end, the Purcell Pavilion crowd home happy.

Mishawaka native [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] received the biggest cheers in the pregame introductions and made the most of his first collegiate game with a program-debut record 29 points and a team-high four assists. While it’s too early to tell if Shrewsberry’s offense will run through him all the time, he proved he will at least play a major role in it.

[autotag]Carey Booth[/autotag] had a similarly solid college debut with 10 points and eight rebounds. Among that line was a 3-pointer and a couple of two-handed dunks.

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Notre Dame forward Kebba Njie will miss opener with right hand injury

This isn’t ideal.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag] followed [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] to Notre Dame, but he won’t officially start the new journey alongside him. The Penn State transfer forward injured his right hand in practice this past weekend and will not be available for the Irish’s season opener against Niagara.

Njie was expected to start against the Purple Eagles, but [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag], one of the few incumbents on the Irish’s roster, will do so instead. Tom Noie of the South Bend Tribune was the first to report the news:

This is a tough break for the Irish as Njie is one of their more highly touted transfers. Ironically, Njie and Zona both accompanied Shrewsberry at the ACC Tipoff media session. Now, one of those players will have to step up for the other.

Zona’s only career start coming into Monday’s game was a January 2021 road win over Miami during his freshman year. He had two rebounds in the first four minutes. Interestingly, [autotag]Tony Sanders Jr.[/autotag], another Irish returnee, also started that game.

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Micah Shrewsberry, Kebba Njie, Matt Zona speak during ACC Tipoff

Hear from a team that figures to have many challenges this season.

Notre Dame is facing a challenging season with a new face and a mostly new roster. [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] fielded questions about that during the ACC Tipoff on Oct. 25 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Alongside him were [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag], a transfer who came over with Shrewsberry from Penn State, and [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag], one of the few returnees on this year’s Irish.

Here is what they had to say:

Notre Dame dead last in Jon Rothstein’s ACC preseason power rankings

Oof.

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports has begun his conference previews on his website, College Hoops Today. The ACC is the first conference he’s looking at, and you probably can guess where he has Notre Dame given the state of the program. Yes, he’s picking the Irish to finish last out of 15 teams in 2023-24.

It’s disheartening to see but also not a surprise. Virtually the entire roster is different with only a few bench holdovers from 2022-23. [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] is the new coach, and he had to pick from the transfer portal’s scrap heap just to have enough players to field a team. Even those players had little experience compared to your typical college basketball rotational player.

To be fair, it’s not completely terrible. Rothstein lists [autotag]Carey Booth[/autotag] as an impact freshman and [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag], who was with Shrewsberry at Penn State, as an under-the-radar transfer. But for everything else, this is going to be a rough season. In fact, it probably will take two or three years before Shrewsberry has the team he wants.

Here’s hoping the Irish do anything to make it worth everyone’s while to watch them this season. That’s going to be tough.

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Look at Notre Dame’s current 2023-24 roster

Do you have confidence in this group as it stands?

There still is time for Notre Dame to add to its 2023-24 roster, but don’t count on a game-changer suddenly emerging onto campus. Barring an unforeseen circumstance, the players the Irish have now figure to make up the core. That’s not a strong vote of confidence for Irish fans, but remember that first-year coach [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] practically has to start from scratch after the program lost all of its rotation players to graduation and the transfer portal.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is going to be a very bad season for the Irish. The few holdovers from [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag]’s tenure have played very little. While Shrewsberry was able to bring his 2023 Penn State recruiting class and one of his Nittany Lions starters from the 2022-23 season, that’s not a lot of college basketball experience coming in. He must be in one of, if not the least envious position in the country.

Hopefully, the day will come when Shrewsberry has built the Irish back into a winner. Until then, try and get behind these players who are just there to do their jobs and play basketball:

Notre Dame basketball adds Seton Hall transfer forward

Shrewsberry gets another portal win

The rumors were true about [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] and Seton Hall transfer [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag].

The 6-foot, 9-inch and 205 pound forward committed to [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] and the Irish on Thursday afternoon. Davis will have three seasons of eligibility remaining after averaging just over 13 minutes per game during his freshman season.

Davis scored 2.8 points and grabbed 2.8 rebounds during his lone season with the Pirates and will now return to his home state to continue his basketball career.

This is the third transfer that Shrewsberry has landed since being hired at the end of March. [autotag]Julian Roper[/autotag] and [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag] were the other two.

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Notre Dame basketball trending for transfer forward

The Irish could be adding another hoops transfer soon

It wasn’t a surprise when [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] basketball hired [autotag]Micah Schrewsberry[/autotag] that he would need to work the transfer portal to field a solid team in the fall.

So far the plan has worked well, with [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag] and [autotag]Julian Roper[/autotag] as verbals from the portal. There could very well be another name added with those two, forward Tae Davis.

The Seton Hall transfer is schedule to be on campus today and tomorrow, and Schrewsberry could get a verbal from Davis before he leaves campus. According to this report by 247Sports Tom Loy, he believes that the 6-foot, 9-inch and 200 pound forward will eventually commit to the Irish.

During his freshman year, Davis averaged 2.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in just over 13 minutes played. He would have three seasons of eligibility remaining.

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Penn State forward Kebba Njie transfers to Notre Dame

Shrewsberry continues to poach talent from his old stomping grounds.

The week of [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag]’s guys switching from Penn State to Notre Dame continues.

First, three of his 2023 recruits set to play for the Nittany Lions switched to the Irish. Then, a 2024 recruit selected the Irish when the Nittany Lions were among the programs that had made him an offer. Now, the trend is affecting the transfer portal. Nittany Lions starting forward [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag] announced he also is coming to South Bend.

Njie brings much-needed size to the guard-heavy Irish. He is 6 feet, 10 inches and started 26 of 37 games played as a freshman last season. He averaged 3.4 points and 3.5 rebounds a game while shooting 52% from the field for a Nittany Lions team that qualified for the NCAA Tournament after a surprise run to the Big Ten Tournament title game that they nearly won. He also received ACC experience in losses to Virginia Tech and Clemson.

Njie announced he was entering the transfer portal April 4, not long after Shrewsberry was introduced as Irish coach. Within five days, the Irish had expressed interest in him, joining Indiana, Texas, Texas Tech, BYU, Nevada and UCF. In the end, he joined guard [autotag]Julian Roper II[/autotag] as Shrewsberry’s second successful transfer target.

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Crystal ball prediction sees key Penn State basketball transfer leaving

New crystal ball prediction for Penn State basketball transfer Kebba Njie trending for this ACC school

When former Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry left the program to become the next head basketball coach at Notre Dame, it was expected that he could manage to lure some of his players with him to South Bend as he builds the roster for the Fighting Irish. His son, Braedan Shrewsberry,  asking out of his national letter of intent with Penn State to follow him was a no-brainer. But now it appears there is a sense a player from last year’s roster could be making a similar move to the Fighting Irish as well.

A new crystal ball prediction on 247Sports is forecasting a commitment to Notre Dame out of the NCAA transfer portal from forward [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag]. 247Sports staff writer Tyler Calvaruso, a contributor to Lions247, made his official prediction of Njie to Notre Dame on Monday evening.

Njie entered the transfer portal in early April after Penn State had hired Micah Shrewsberry‘s replacement, [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag]. Njie was noticeably absent from Rhoades’ introductory press conference at Penn State. At the time, Njie was the fifth player from Penn State’s basketball roster to add his name to the transfer portal following the departure of Shrewsberry to Notre Dame.

Njie was Penn State’s third highest-rated recruit in program history, and the four-star player was the highlight of Penn State’s Class of 2022 recruiting efforts, resulting in the program’s highest-ranked recruiting class in school history.

Njie was the only freshman from the 2022-23 team to appear in all 37 games played, and he started in 26 of them. His expected departure is a tough one to replace for Rhoades, who continues to build a roster with players out of the transfer portal. While it would have been nice to see Njie return for another year in State College, it is appearing less likely by the day that will happen.

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