Kebba Njie Embracing Leadership Role, Building Notre Dame Culture
Kebba Njie might only be a sophomore, but he’ll be one of the most experienced players on the Notre Dame roster this season.
The 6-foot-10, 237-pounder appeared in 37 games while making 26 starts for Penn State last year and the decision to follow Micah Shrewsberry to Notre Dame was an easy one for the Ohio native.
“He’s very influential. He’s a great person and a great coach. It’s easy to listen to him, follow him and everything he does.”
“He’s very influential,” stated Njie.”He’s a great person and a great coach. It’s easy to listen to him, follow him and everything he does.”
Njie averaged 3.4 ppg and 3.5 rpg per game as a freshman and will be counted on to take the next step this year in production, but also leadership as his experience is a premium in the program.
“I’m a big-time verbal communicator,” Njie explained. “I like to talk to my teammates and yell at them to let them know what they’re doing. I’ve also been helped by leaders like Rope (Julian Roper II) and Matt (Zona), who also help with their voice and through their actions as well.”
Zona’s leadership has stood out, but the senior has also impressed Njie on the court during summer workouts.
“It’s a blessing and a curse,” laughed Njie when asked what it’s like to face Zona every day. “He’s awesome. He’s an awesome player. He plays great defense and he can shoot it. He makes me get out and work.”
Shrewsberry will count on Njie taking a step forward in production this season and he’s already seen that growth. The first-year Notre Dame coach is also counting on Njie to help bring his teammates along on the court as he knows what Shrewsberry wants on offense and defense.
“Kebba has the ability to do a lot of things,” said Shrewsberry. “He’s played in our system for a year, so he understands it. He understands what his role is going to be. He understands what we expect of him, but also, he’s going to have the ability to grow now.
“He played with four other, sometimes five other seniors playing the majority of the time. So he had to be like, ‘What can I do to stay on the court?’ Be an offensive rebounder - be a guy who defends.
“His ability to score the ball with his back to the basket is going to be helpful for us. Sometimes you’ve got to throw the ball into the post and you’ve got to score in the pain and he can do that. He can score with his back to the basket. He can get you offensive rebounds, get to the free-throw line, but he understands everything else on the perimeter and he’s made shots at a really good level.”
There is also an underdog mentality Njie finds motivation from and Shrewsberry has played into it as he sees a lot of himself in his big man.
“We fit each other, man,” stated Shrewsberry. “I recruited him for a couple of years and I’ve coached him. My personality and his personality click. He’s an easy-going kid, but he’s a competitor and a fighter. He loves it.
“As a freshman in college, he’s starting and going against Zach Edey and he’s going against Hunter Dickinson - some of the best players in the country and he didn’t back down from any of them. Now it’s his turn to step up and deliver some of those blows and some of that punishment to other people.”
The competition in the paint has translated to the entire team. Notre Dame is focused on building a culture and it starts with competition.
“We’re out here competing,” Njie explained. “We have a bunch of young guys, but we compete every single day. That’s what I love.”
For Njie, he understands his role and that’s be to be a physical presence. It’s a piece to his game he didn’t have last summer, but after a year in the Big Ten, Njie quickly learned the importance of physicality.
“I have to bring that physicalness I brought from the Big Ten,” Njie stated. “I didn’t have that early on my freshman year, so by the time we got to the end, I had learned it. I’m trying to bring that here and be physical with that in practice to let them know.”
As far as his message to the four freshmen, Njie hasn’t gone too deep as it’s July, but he’s made them aware the stage will be bright, yet it’s nothing they can’t handle.
“Just letting them know the stage isn’t too big for anyone,” said Njie. “At the end of the day, we’re all human and go out there and play the game. Don’t expect anything from anybody except yourself.”
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