Kebba Njie transfers to Notre Dame: Five thoughts on what it means
The dots were begging to be connected when Penn State forward Kebba Njie hopped in the transfer portal a few days after his head coach, Micah Shrewsberry, left for Notre Dame in late March. Njie and the Irish made sense as a portal pairing.
Njie earned 26 starts for Shrewsberry in 2022-23. The coach who trusted him so quickly went to a place with no shortage of available minutes. Njie, a freshman who played high school at La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere, felt like a cultural fit and a reasonable ask for the school to admit as an undergrad transfer.
The 6-foot-10, 237-pound Njie announced Thursday the decision that felt inevitable as soon as he set his April 17 Notre Dame visit. He’s going to play for Shrewsberry and the Irish next year and has three seasons of eligibility left.
What does his addition mean and what can he bring to Notre Dame? Here are some thoughts.
Next season’s starting center
Njie made sense for Notre Dame even before freshman forward Ven-Allen Lubin (6.2 points, 4.4 rebounds per game) entered the portal April 17, the same day Njie arrived for his visit.
Lubin’s exit means Njie will arrive as the early favorite to start at the five, where he played at Penn State last year. He should slot ahead of senior-to-be Matt Zona, who has yet to average more than 6.9 minutes per game or play 20 games in a season. Zona suddenly becoming a 3-point threat late in the season could make him a reliable bit player as a senior, but it’s hard to see him as more than that on a credible ACC roster when he didn’t play much for a team that won just three ACC games.
Penn State made Njie a starter last year, but rarely a finisher. He averaged 14.3 minutes per game, supplying 3.4 points and 3.5 rebounds. The Nittany Lions often downshifted to a small lineup late in games that put 6-foot-4, 230-pound guard Myles Dread at the five. It was a stylistic choice to give them five shooters on the floor, not so much a lack of trust in Njie.
The skill set
Njie did nearly all of his scoring in the paint, but that’s different than being a post-up threat. He scored most of his points on dump-offs and lobs. He attempted 100 field goals last year. Per Synergy Sports, 61 were on cuts or as a roller. Another 14 were putbacks and six were in transition.
Post-ups accounted for only 14 of his shot attempts, and he made only four. Those weren’t a weapon for him as a freshman. He attempted 15 hook shots and made six. He has a right-hand jump hook that he’s not afraid to use, but it wasn’t consistent. He had a couple post-up baskets he scored with a spin move, but it’s not reliably in his scoring arsenal.
Njie is a strong finisher who can take contact, but his 50 percent mark on layups (23-for-46) is lower than desired for a 6-foot-10 forward. He made one of his five 3-point attempts. A 59.5 percent free throw percentage doesn’t hint at the upside of an accurate or high-volume 3-point shooter.
On defense, Njie can hold his ground in the post and has the length to block shots on his man, not just in help defense. A 3.6 percent block rate is a strong number. He can be prone to hunting blocks on his man, which helped produce a higher foul rate (5.2 fouls called per 40 minutes). He can find cutters from the top of the key as a passer, but turnovers were a bugaboo last year. He had a 17-to-33 assist-turnover ratio.
What kind of Year 2 leap is possible at Notre Dame?
Was Njie’s lack of post-up involvement indicative of ability or role? Penn State’s 2022-23 offense revolved around its guards. Point guard Jalen Pickett was as good a post-up guard as any in the country a year ago and led the Nittany Lions in post-up chances. Njie was asked to hang around the rim to take advantage of defenses that helped on Pickett.
Notre Dame doesn’t have a Pickett-type guard on its roster, and its portal options aren’t anything like him. Could Njie be more of a focal point on offense if there’s not an All-American guard and three shooters on the floor?
There isn’t a lot of shot creation or a diverse post-up game on his freshman year tape, but it would be premature to conclude he can’t develop there. He’s still a freshman. It’s hard to separate role from ability with underclassman transfers who were complementary players. There seems to be requisite strength, length and athletic upside to grow into a better post scorer, though.
One of many transfers into Notre Dame
Notre Dame had room to add up to nine players this offseason when Lubin left. Even after landing Njie, pulling Northwestern guard transfer Julian Roper II from the portal in April and filching all three former 2023 Penn State signees (three-star guard Braeden Shrewsberry, three-star guard Logan Imes, four-star forward Carey Booth), the Irish still have room to take four more transfers.
Four total portal additions feels like the minimum requirement just to field a competent team, but even that might not be enough depending on who those four are. The Irish need go-to options, but also role players and bench players. They’re halfway to four with Njie and Roper.
Landing multiple experienced guards is a must. The three guards on Notre Dame’s roster (incoming freshman Markus Burton, junior-to-be JR Konieczny, rising senior Tony Sanders Jr.) have scored a combined 37 points in college. So far, the Irish have imported only Roper from the portal at guard. One name to monitor is Stanford grad transfer Michael O’Connell, who averaged 5.2 points and 3.1 assists per game in 2022-23.
The only Penn State transfer
Four Penn State players have entered the transfer portal since Shrewsberry left. Njie is the only one that has been steadily connected to Notre Dame since Shrewsberry was hired. Of those four, only Njie and freshman Evan Mahaffey (2.8 points, 1.7 rebounds in 9.3 minutes per game) made a notable impact at Penn State. Notre Dame did not seriously pursue him when he entered the portal, and he committed to Ohio State Wednesday.
The transfer portal will remain open until May 11. There is time for a late entrant, but right now the most likely outcome is Njie being the only Penn State transfer to follow Shrewsberry.
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