Lehigh transfer forward Burke Chebuhar commits to Notre Dame

Lehigh transfer forward Burke Chebuhar has committed to Notre Dame, he announced on Instagram on Thursday. He has one year of eligibility remaining and will be a scholarship player.

With Chebuhar’s commitment, the Irish have filled all 13 of their available scholarship spots for the 2024-25 season. He’s Notre Dame’s third transfer commitment this offseason, following former Princeton guard Matt Allocco and former Monmouth forward Nikita Konstantynovskyi.

After transferring from Division III Bowdoin College, Chebuhar spent his Lehigh career as a walk-on. By his third season with the Mountain Hawks, though, he didn’t play like a walk-on. Chebuhar appeared in 32 games in 2023-24, starting 22. He averaged 7.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in 22.9 minutes per game, but over his final 14 appearances, he was a 12.1 point-per-game scorer.

Standing at 6-foot-8, 230 pounds, Chebuhar played a reserve role for the season’s first two months but burst onto the scene in a 78-72 win over Holy Cross on Jan. 27. He scored 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting, as well as 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Later, on Feb. 10, Chebuhar scored a career-high 28 points in a double-overtime win over Lafayette. He shot an astounding 19 free throws that day, making 16, and hit 6 of his 10 shots from the field. Other notable performances include 16 points and 12 rebounds in a Feb. 24 win over Lafayette (again), as well as a 22-point performance over — you guessed it — Lafayette. This time, he did it in the Patriot League quarterfinals.

Chebuhar nearly helped Lehigh make the NCAA Tournament, but the Mountain Hawks lost to Colgate 74-55 in the Patriot League final. 

Before the 2023-24 season, the Marietta, Ga. native played standard walk-on minutes. He appeared in 22 games over his first two years with Lehigh, averaging 1.5 and 2.3 minutes, respectively.

Perhaps the most interesting stat on Chebuhar’s College Basketball Reference page is his 3-point shooting, which sits at 32.6 percent for his career. That’s not bad and it forces defenses to respect his outside shot, but it’s nothing to write home about.

However, over his final two months at Lehigh, Chebuhar went 18-of-39 (46.1 percent) from beyond the arc. If Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry believes he can shoot close to that over a full season, it would explain why he took the ex-Mountain Hawk.

Chebuhar joins a frontcourt led by two big men in Konstantynovskyi and junior Kebba Njie, as well as an incoming freshman stretch four in Garrett Sundra.