New Syracuse basketball 4-star big-man target ‘definitely’ wants to visit SU

New Syracuse basketball recruiting target Patrick Ngongba II says in an interview that he “definitely” wants to take a visit to the Orange campus at some point in the future.

The 6-foot-10 center, a four-star, top-70 national prospect in the 2024 class, was just offered a scholarship by ‘Cuse coaches in recent days.

Ngongba is a junior at the powerhouse St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Va. On the AAU circuit, he runs with the Washington, D.C.-based Team Takeover in Nike’s EYBL league.

One of his Team Takeover colleagues is Syracuse basketball 2024 four-star priority target Donnie Freeman, a 6-foot-9 power forward who is being recruited extremely hard by the Orange.

Syracuse basketball coaches recently offered 2024 four-star center Patrick Ngongba II.

In an interview this week with SyracuseOnSI publisher Mike McAllister, Ngongba says that ‘Cuse head coach Adrian Autry and new assistant coach Brenden Straughn recently made a visit to his high school.

"Ngongba told McAllister, “We sat down, they showed me a couple videos on what Syracuse is about, the history of Syracuse and all that. They were telling me that they saw me play last summer and they came to my school once in the fall and watched an open gym. They were saying I made so much improvement and they liked my dedication to the game. Basically just gave me the scholarship right after that.”"

Earlier in their coaching careers, both Autry and Straughn served as assistants with the Team Takeover program, and Autry also previously was an assistant coach at St. Paul VI Catholic, which was a top-10 squad in the 2022-23 campaign and earned an invite to the 2023 GEICO Nationals.

McAllister writes that, at this juncture, Ngongba doesn’t have any campus visits lined up for the summer, but regarding a possible visit to the ‘Cuse, Ngongba said, “I would like to see how the players interact with the coaches. See how that connection is. I would want a family environment.”

This past weekend, the EYBL held a session amid an NCAA live period at the LakePoint Champions Center in Emerson, Ga. Autry and Straughn were in the house to watch Team Takeover.

At this session, Ngongba led the EYBL in rebounding, at 9.3 boards per game, and he was named to MADE Hoops’ All-EYBL squad for his performance.

Besides Syracuse basketball, his offer sheet includes squads such as Kansas State, Georgetown, Iowa, Virginia, Butler, George Washington, Wichita State, Ole Miss, Maryland, Pittsburgh, George Mason and Notre Dame, among others.

Most recruiting services rate Ngongba inside the top 100 of his class. Several recruiting Web sites say that he is a top-10 center in the 2024 cycle.

Since last weekend’s live period, Orange coaches have offered several prospects, including Ngongba, 2025 five-star shooting guard Darryn Peterson, 2025 four-star forward Sadiq White and 2024 four-star point guard Mikey Lewis.