Notre Dame Down Three Key Players for Road Clash with Virginia Tech
Notre Dame’s already thin rotation just got thinner. Heading into Saturday’s ACC road game at Virginia Tech, the Irish will be without three players - and one of them is a veteran presence who’s logged more than 100 college games.
Senior forward Kebba Njie is the latest addition to the injury list, joining freshman center Tommy Ahneman (knee) and junior guard Markus Burton (ankle), both of whom have been sidelined for the first four games of conference play. Njie is dealing with what’s being described as a lower body injury, and his absence adds another wrinkle for a Notre Dame team trying to find its footing in ACC play.
Njie’s injury comes at a tough time. The 6-foot-10, 255-pound big man played just over a minute in Tuesday’s home loss to Miami before going down.
The play was an unfortunate bit of friendly fire - freshman guard Jalen Haralson was hustling after a loose ball when he collided with Njie near the free throw line. Njie’s legs gave way, and he hit the floor hard.
After spending time being evaluated in the tunnel, he returned to the bench but didn’t re-enter the game.
While Njie’s numbers this season - 2.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 11.5 minutes per game - don’t jump off the stat sheet, his experience and size have been valuable for a young Irish squad. He’s appeared in all 17 games this season, though he hasn’t started any after being a regular starter his first two years. This is his third season under head coach Micah Shrewsberry, having followed him from Penn State, where he played as a freshman.
Njie had declared for the NBA Draft after last season but returned to South Bend with unfinished business, hoping to help lead Notre Dame back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022. That road just got a little tougher.
With Njie out, Notre Dame’s frontcourt depth takes a serious hit. Graduate transfer Carson Towt, at 6-foot-8 and 250 pounds, will shoulder the bulk of the interior workload.
Behind him, the only other true big is Matthew MacLellan, a 6-foot-9, 240-pound grad student who transferred in from NAIA Madonna (Mich.) University.
MacLellan has logged just eight minutes across three games this season and has yet to score.
Head coach Micah Shrewsberry may be forced to get creative. Against Miami, he leaned into smaller lineups, giving meaningful minutes to reserve guards Ryder Frost and Sir Mohammed.
Frost chipped in seven points in 11 minutes, while Mohammed was electric - scoring 15 points in just 12 minutes. Mohammed earned the start Saturday in place of Garrett Sundra, a Virginia native.
Whether Shrewsberry decides to stay big with Towt and MacLellan or go small and lean into his guards, Notre Dame will need to find a way to adjust on the fly. The Irish came into the Virginia Tech game riding a three-game ACC losing streak, and without Njie, Ahneman, and Burton, the margin for error shrinks even more.
This is a young team still learning how to win in one of college basketball’s toughest conferences. And now, they’ll have to do it with even fewer pieces on the board.