Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Mbacke Diong becomes fifth player to transfer from UNLV

UNLV Lose at Buzzer to San Diego State

Sam Morris/Las Vegas News Bureau

UNLV Rebels forward Cheikh Mbacke Diong (34) reacts after drawing a foul on the San Diego State Aztecs during their Mountain West Conference basketball game Saturday, February 23, 2019, at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Mbacke Diong is set to become the fifth UNLV basketball player to transfer from the program in the last three days, a source told the Sun today.

Diong, a 6-foot-11 center, started 22 games as a sophomore in 2018-19 and averaged 6.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.

The Senegal native played one year of high school basketball in Florida before committing to Marvin Menzies and UNLV. With Menzies’s firing last week, Diong has decided to enter his name into the NCAA’s transfer portal.

Diong should draw plenty of interest from other schools. He led UNLV in defensive rating last year, and he was second on the team in individual plus/minus rating.

Joel Ntambwe and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua were the first UNLV players to transfer, entering the portal on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they were joined by Shakur Juiston and Cheickna Dembele.

There are now just seven scholarship players set to return to the Rebels next year: sophomore Bryce Hamilton, junior Tervell Beck, sophomore Trey Woodbury, redshirt sophomore Jay Green, junior Ben Coupet, senior Djordjije Sljivancanin and junior Amauri Hardy. Only Hardy, Hamilton and Woodbury played any significant minutes last year.

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

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