UMass transfer forward Josh Cohen to visit Notre Dame
Notre Dame men’s basketball has its first transfer visitor of the 2024 cycle, and it’s a big one — both figuratively and literally.
Six-foot-10 former UMass forward Josh Cohen is set to take an official visit to Notre Dame next week, he told On3 national basketball reporter Joe Tipton. Cohen will also take official visits to Xavier and Arkansas, as well as an unofficial visit to Penn State. He is a graduate transfer with one year of eligibility remaining, made possible by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cohen averaged 15.9 points per game in his lone season at UMass, where he transferred after spending four years at St. Francis (PA). He put up 21.8 points per game in his finals season with the Red Flashes, prompting him to move from the Northeast Conference to the Atlantic 10.
As a scorer, Cohen prefers to operate out of the low post. He uses impressive footwork underneath to get himself open for layups and turnaround shots. This gave him 1.27 points per possession on post-ups, according to College Basketball Scouting, and that mark was in the 95th percentile in Division I hoops.
The 2019 graduate of Lincroft (N.J.) Christian Brothers Academy is an adept rebounder, hauling in 6.8 per game with the Minutemen. He dished out 1.7 assists per game, averaging 0.5 blocks and 0.9 steals on top of that.
Cohen was a complete non-shooter for the first four years of his career, attempting only two 3-pointers and missing both before the 2023-24 season. However, he began to develop a shot with UMass, going 11-of-32 (34.4 percent) from beyond the arc. Cohen can hit elbow-range jumpers as well if defenders sag off too much.
Listed as a center in On3’s transfer rankings, Cohen is one of the industry’s top available players. He’s the No. 5 center and No. 24 overall transfer — including those already committed — according to the On3 Industry Ranking.
Only Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud (No. 1 on the overall list), Rutgers’ Clifford Omoruyi (No. 3), Oklahoma State’s Brandon Garrison (No. 4) and Michigan’s Tarris Reed (No. 14) rank higher than Cohen among centers currently in the portal. None have committed to a new school as of Saturday afternoon.
Cohen would be the first graduate transfer to commit to head coach Micah Shrewsberry at Notre Dame, and the fourth transfer overall. Northwestern transfer Julian Roper II, Penn State transfer Kebba Njie and Seton Hall transfer Tae Davis joined the Irish in 2023.
