Duke basketball adding transfer for depth in post on next season’s roster

Duke men’s basketball and Jon Scheyer added another piece to the team’s frontcourt on Wednesday.

The Blue Devils got a commitment from Ifeanyi Ufochukwu, a 6-foot-11, 240-pound center from Rice. He finished his undergraduate degree and is expected to have two years of eligibility remaining due to his redshirt.

He played two seasons with the Owls before redshirting the most recent season. Ufochuku averaged 1.8 points and 0.6 rebounds per game in the 2023-24 season. He scored 28 total points, pulled down 10 rebounds and blocked three shots in 16 games played. The incoming big man scored a career-high seven points against Tennessee-Martin on Nov. 30, 2023.

The center earned a spot on the 2024 All-American Athletic Conference Academic Team and was a member of the 2023 Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

Ufochukwu is originally from Benin City, Nigeria, but attended high school at Covenant Day School, near Charlotte. As a high school senior, he averaged 10.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. He was a three-star recruit, according to 247Sports, during his preps career.

Ufochukwu is the second transfer Duke has added this offseason. Cedric Coward, a 6-6 guard who played at Washington State last season, committed last month. He’s still going through the NBA Draft process and could be a late first-round pick. But he said if he returns to college, he’ll play for the Blue Devils next season.

While Coward figures to be in the mix for a starting job, Ufochukwu looks more like a reserve behind Duke’s two returning big men, 6-11 sophomore center Patrick Ngongba and 6-9 senior forward Maliq Brown, and 6-11 freshman forward Nik Khamenia.

As Duke’s third option in the post last season, behind 7-2 Khaman Maluach and Brown, Ngongba appeared in 30 games. He played 10.6 minutes per appearance, averaging 3.9 points and 2.7 rebounds. Maluach declared for the NBA Draft, where he’s projected to be a top-10 pick this summer. He started all 39 games as Duke went 35-4, winning the ACC championship and reaching the Final Four.

The Blue Devils are also in the running for 6-8 incoming freshman Braydon Hawthorne, a former West Virginia commitment who reopened his recruitment after the Mountaineers changed coaches. A four-star recruit, Hawthorne has also visited Kentucky, Pitt and Virginia Tech.

This story was originally published May 7, 2025 at 2:18 PM.