Syracuse Basketball: North Texas big-man transfer plans to officially visit

Syracuse basketball coaches are mining the NCAA’s transfer portal to potentially land an experienced center, after senior Jesse Edwards said on Tuesday that he is entering the transfer portal.

College basketball insider Adam Zagoria said on Twitter that North Texas transfer Abou Ousmane plans to take an official visit to the Orange next week.

The 6-foot-10, 230-pound Ousmane, a power forward/center who is from Brooklyn, N.Y., had a solid junior season during the 2022-23 stanza for the Mean Green, which went 31-7 overall and captured the NIT title last month by defeating UAB, 68-61, in the championship game.

On April 2, North Texas associate head coach Ross Hodge was named the team’s head coach, replacing Grant McCasland. On July 1 of this year, the Mean Green will move from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference.

Ousmane said via Twitter on April 2 that he was going to enter the transfer portal.

Syracuse basketball will soon host North Texas big-man transfer Abou Ousmane on an official visit.

Per ESPN statistics, in 2022-23, Ousmane averaged 24.3 minutes, 11.1 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.3 blocks per game. This past season, he connected on 48.7 percent from the field and 70.4 percent from the free-throw line.

Per the North Texas athletics department Web site, in 2022-23, Ousmane was named to Conference USA’s all-conference third team. On December 22 of last year, he tallied an impressive 37 points on 15-of-19 shooting from the field in a North Texas road victory over UTSA.

Before college, Ousmane attended the Scotland Performance Institute in Scotland, Pa., and he received more than 10 scholarship offers as a member of the 2020 class, according to 247Sports. His offer sheet included North Texas, Rhode Island, Bryant, Fordham, UMass, Ohio, Old Dominion, Saint Louis and Texas A&M, among others.

Per Zagoria, Ousmane is planning to take an official visit to Seton Hall this Thursday. He recently had a Zoom call with LSU and has also heard from others including Providence, Xavier and DePaul.

At present, with Jesse Edwards in the transfer portal, other centers on the Syracuse basketball roster looking ahead to the 2023-24 season are sophomore Mounir Hima, freshman Peter Carey and 2023 three-star commit William Patterson out of The Patrick School in Hillside, N.J.