Syracuse Basketball: Big man who eyed Orange visit will head to Big East

North Texas transfer Abou Ousmane, who reportedly was eyeing a possible official visit to Syracuse basketball, has committed to Big East Conference member Xavier, according to several media reports.

Per an article from college basketball insider Adam Zagoria, the 6-foot-10, 230-pound Ousmane picked Xavier after taking a visit to the Musketeers. Ousmane also considered other teams including the Orange and Seton Hall, among others, per Zagoria.

About a week ago, Zagoria said that Ousmane was planning to potentially take an official visit to the ‘Cuse at some point.

Other college squads that reportedly had reached out to Ousmane included LSU, Providence and DePaul. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native said via Twitter on April 2 that he was going to enter the NCAA’s transfer portal.

Syracuse basketball coaches continue to mine the transfer portal for a center.

In the 2022-23 season, Xavier was one of the better teams in the Big East, going 27-10 overall. In this spring’s NCAA Tournament, the No. 3 seed Musketeers reached the Sweet 16, where they fell to No. 2 seed Texas, 83-71.

Ousmane, a power forward/center who has two years of collegiate eligibility left, put forth a solid junior term in 2022-23 for North Texas, which compiled a 31-7 overall record and won the NIT championship last month.

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 contest, while connecting on 48.7 percent from the field and 70.4 percent from the free-throw line.

For his junior-year efforts, Ousmane was named to Conference USA’s all-conference third team. In early April, North Texas associate head coach Ross Hodge was named the Mean Green’s head coach, replacing Grant McCasland, who is now the new head coach at Texas Tech.

Before college, as a member of the 2020 class, Ousmane attended the Scotland Performance Institute in Scotland, Pa. His offer sheet while in high school included North Texas, Rhode Island, Bryant, Fordham, UMass, Ohio, Old Dominion, Saint Louis and Texas A&M, among others.

With senior center Jesse Edwards having committed to West Virginia a few days ago, the Orange coaching staff is intent on picking up an experienced center out of the transfer portal. At present, the other centers who will be on the ‘Cuse 2023-24 roster are sophomore Mounir Hima, freshman Peter Carey and 2023 three-star commit William Patterson out of The Patrick School in Hillside, N.J.