Mbacke Diong is Rebels’ latest basketball commit

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Published Friday, March 3, 2017 | 3:34 p.m.

Updated Friday, March 3, 2017 | 4:13 p.m.

With the 2016-17 season winding down, recruiting season is starting to heat up, and that goes especially for the Rebels, as UNLV landed its second 2017 recruit in a span of three days when 6-foot-11 Mbacke Diong announced his commitment on Friday.

Diong, a center originally from Senegal, came to the United States in August and is still just 17 years old. He averaged 14.1 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game for Florida Prep Academy in Melbourne, Fla., and had offers from Pitt, UConn and Louisville.

Diong took an official visit to UNLV on Friday and decided to announce his decision to join the Rebels:

Diong is the fourth member of UNLV’s incoming 2017 class, along with juco forward Anthony Smith, prep guard Jay Green and post-grad forward Tervell Beck. Beck announced his commitment on Wednesday.

What Diong's commitment means for UNLV:

Inside addition

UNLV's lack of size has been an issue this season, and coach Marvin Menzies isn't used to seeing his teams get bullied in the paint, so Diong's addition makes sense. At 6-foot-11, he's a natural shot blocker, and Florida Prep Academy athletic director Joe Burley thinks he'll bolster the Rebels' inside game.

"For a high school kid, I can honestly say his shot-blocking and rebounding is at an elite level," Burley said. "Those skills will translate immediately to a Division I team."

Diong is still growing and could eventually top out at 7-feet, according to Burley. He will still be 17 when he arrives on campus in the fall, so he is a young prospect and should benefit from Menzies' master big-man tutelage. Paired with current freshman Cheickna Dembele, the Rebels now have two young shot-blockers ready to patrol the paint for the next few years.

Menzies connects

Diong came to the United States through a basketball camp in Senegal, Flying Star Academy, and only played AAU ball for two weeks in August before the school year began, so there wasn't a lot of recruiting buzz surrounding him at the start of the 2016-17 season. But Menzies' never-ending contact list came through and put UNLV in the driver's seat once it became clear Diong was a player and his recruitment began heating up.

"Apparently coach Menzies knew of Flying Star Academy and had recruited some of the Flying Star players that had come through the states in the past," Burley said. "Coach Menzies followed up with us once the season was in session and reached out to us to see when he could get down here to see Mbacke play."

Mbacke visited Pitt two weeks ago, then headed to Las Vegas on Friday for his second official. While on campus, he decided to make the call, and Menzies' flare for international recruiting earned the Rebels another intriguing prospect.

Man overboard

With four recruits now committed for 2017 and only three current players set to graduate, it's obvious the Rebels are going to have to pare down the roster in the offseason just to make the scholarship numbers work. Dembele and Diong are both big men and long-term recruits (with eligibility set to run until 2020 and 2021, respectively), so this move could potentially put Djordjije Sljivancanin on the bubble. Sljivancanin hasn't seen much playing time as a freshman this season, and it would be somewhat unorthodox if the Rebels were to use three scholarship spots on the center position, especially when Dembele and Diong appear to have similar skill sets.

Diong's addition could also foreshadow Brandon McCoy's eventual decision. McCoy, a top-10 center in the Class of 2017, has UNLV in his final five, but adding another 2017 big man in Diong could signal that Menzies doesn't feel confident about McCoy's status and is moving on to other options.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.