Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg announced Monday that Matar Diop (pronounced MA-TAR CHOPE like hope) will join the Husker basketball program for the 2023-24 season.
Diop, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound forward from Dakar, Senegal, spent last season at Keystone (Pa.) Athletic Academy for Coach Shannon Pullium. Diop, who possesses a 7-foot-3 wingspan, spent just one year in the United States, as he played at the NBA Academy Africa directed by Roland Houston for two years. Earlier this summer, he was selected to play in the NBA Academy Games in Atlanta.
“We are pleased to add Matar to our roster,” Hoiberg said. “At 6-9, 225, he gives us size, length and athleticism and is a good complement to our other frontcourt players. Our fans will like that Matar has a big-time motor, and he is not afraid to do the tough things that help teams be successful.”
NBA Academy Africa is an elite basketball training center in Senegal for the top male and female prospects from throughout Africa and the first of its kind on the continent. He played for the Capetown Tigers in the Basketball Africa League in 2022, as part of the Basketball Africa League Elevate program which placed 12 NBA Academy Africa players with BAL teams. He saw limited duty with Capetown but had one game with six points and four rebounds in eight minutes off the bench.
Diop selected Nebraska after offers from Ole Miss, Arizona State, Seton Hall and Washington State. He joins Eli Rice as freshmen on the Huskers’ 2023-24 roster. Nebraska also added transfers Josiah Allick (New Mexico), Rienk Mast (Bradley), Ahron Ulis (Iowa) and Brice Williams (Charlotte).