Notre Dame forward Kebba Njie OUT for season opener
Notre Dame sophomore forward Kebba Njie is unavailable for Monday night’s season-opening game against Niagara, a men’s basketball team spokesperson announced shortly before tip-off.
Njie, a transfer from Penn State, is “game by game” with a right hand injury, according to the spokesperson. The injury is not believed to be serious.
A starter in Notre Dame’s exhibition game against Division III Hanover College this past Wednesday, Njie played 17 minutes and scored 7 points on 2-of-6 shooting. He went 3-of-5 from the free-throw line, hauled in 6 rebounds and picked up a block in a 96-62 Irish win.
Njie was on the court during pregame warmups, but he wore a large brace or a soft cast on his right hand and wrist.
Including the second-year player out of La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere, first-year Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry ran a nine-man rotation for most of the exhibition game against Hanover. Njie started alongside sophomore forward Tae Davis, junior guard Julian Roper II and freshman guards Braeden Shrewsberry and Markus Burton.
Freshman guard Logan Imes, junior guard JR Konieczny, senior forward Matt Zona and freshman forward Carey Booth were the primary players off the bench. Senior guard Tony Sanders Jr. and junior guard Alex Wade — a former walk on who was put on scholarship for the 2023-24 season — made an appearance later in the game.
Njie, who committed to and played for Shrewsberry at Penn State, was the No. 149 player and No. 25 power forward in the 2022 On3 Industry Ranking. He was also the fourth-ranked player in Indiana. In 37 games with the Nittany Lions, Njie averaged 14.3 minutes per game, 3.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 0.5 blocks.
On March 24, Shrewsberry left Penn State to take the head coaching job at Notre Dame. On April 4, Njie entered the transfer portal, and on May 6, he committed to the Fighting Irish.
Without Njie, Notre Dame will miss a strong post presence on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court. When he comes back, he is expected to anchor the interior defense. He is the only Irish player who played for Shrewsberry before this season, including Shrewsberry’s own son, Braeden.
Notre Dame tips off against Niagara, a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), at 7 p.m. ET on Monday at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend. Niagara finished fifth in the MAAC this past season.
UPDATE: After Notre Dame’s win over Niagara, Shrewsberry revealed that Njie suffered his injury in practice Saturday and will miss more time. The injury is not considered long term, but Njie is not day to day, either.
There is no timetable on Njie’s return yet.
“It’s not a super bad — like, there’s a guy from Georgetown who’s out 4-6 weeks, it’s not that bad,” Shrewsberry said. “We’ll be without him, but we don’t know how long until we get a better read on everything in the next couple days.”
In Njie’s place, senior forward Matt Zona started and freshman forward Carey Booth played 21 minutes.
