By Pat Tintle
Staff Writer
Having a seven-foot center can never be a bad thing for a basketball team.
Hailing from Dakar, Senegal, 22-year-old Youssou Ndoye is entering his third year of college ball in the Bonnies’ 2013 season. Coming off of a 29 game season, Ndoye averaged 6.9 points per game and took advantage of his height by averaging 4.9 rebounds per game in his 2012 campaign, good for second best on the team. Perhaps his most impressive accomplishment was ranking seventh in the Atlantic 10 with 41 blocks.
An asset to the Bonnies, Ndoye attributes his tough mental game to the culture shock from playing outside his native country.
“Coming from Senegal, I didn’t speak (English). There was a lot of homesickness,” Ndoye said. “It was just really hard for me to adapt.”
But the center would soon find his comfort zone once he began to make some necessary adjustments.
“Now I know a lot of people,” Ndoye said. “I’ve adapted, and I have made a lot of good friends that I’ve maintained. There are so many people helping me out.”
Ndoye first came to the United States to attend high school at Lee Academy in Lee, Maine. After leading the Pandas to 23 consecutive wins and a 27-1 record, Ndoye was recruited by St. Bonaventure to add defensive depth, something that has plagued the Bonnies on many occasions.
“Right now, I would say the biggest strength for me has to be being a defensive presence on the floor,” Ndoye said. “But I’m trying to work on everything. Over the summer, I’ve been working on every aspect of my game: being in the post, taking the ball from the perimeter and all that stuff. So hopefully, it’s all going to connect when the season starts.”
Ndoye is sure to be a tremendous defensive threat in the upcoming season. After all, he averaged 1.4 blocks per game in his previous season. But his offensive game should not be dismissed when scouting out the Bonnies, as Ndoye saw his numbers take a significant jump.
His .517 field goal percentage was second best on the team last year and should remind A-10 teams not to leave the big man open around the paint. From 2011-’12 to 2012-’13, he saw an increase of over four points per game and also completed his first double-double as a college athlete. And during the final game last season, he scored his career best 17 points against A-10 rival Fordham. Ndoye’s improvements over the summer are sure to strengthen all aspects of his already impressive set of skills.
But most importantly, Ndoye has a high basketball IQ. With a competitive mindset and two years under his belt, Ndoye knows the right turns to make in order to find success.
“To us, we just have to take it from game to game,” Ndoye said. “The biggest thing is just to compete every time and see what the result is going to be.”
