John Bol Ajak will reportedly remain at SU despite entering transfer portal
Courtesy of Mark Konezny | USA TODAY Sports
In his redshirt freshman season, Ajak appeared in 10 games, totaled 51 minutes and recorded two points, rebounds and two blocks.
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Reserve center John Bol Ajak will reportedly not transfer from the program despite entering his name into the transfer portal on March 29, according to syracuse.com’s Mike Waters.
Ajak was the first of five Syracuse players — later joined by Woody Newton, Kadary Richmond, Robert Braswell and Quincy Guerrier — to enter the portal after a season-ending loss to Houston in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, and the other four have already announced transfer destinations. In his redshirt freshman season, Ajak appeared in 10 games, totaled 51 minutes and recorded two points, four rebounds and two blocks.
His return gives Syracuse additional center depth behind Jesse Edwards and Bourama Sidibe, who previously announced that he’d return for his extra year of eligibility after missing most of 2020-21 due to injury. After Ajak played his first nine collegiate minutes against Niagara on Dec. 3, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said that he was “happy with Bol’s movement,” but after a loss to North Carolina five weeks later, Boeheim said that Ajak is “too small, he can’t get it done out there.”
“We’re hoping that (Edwards) can give us some minutes in there, but he’s really the only alternative right now,” Boeheim said after the UNC game on Jan. 12.
Ajak committed to Syracuse as a three-star center from Westtown (Pennsylvania) School, where he became the No. 76 center in the Class of 2019 and the No. 20-ranked player at this position in Pennsylvania per 247Sports. He scored his only collegiate basket in Syracuse’s third game of the season against Rider, when Richmond drove and kicked a pass out to Ajak in the corner with three minutes left for a jumper.
Syracuse secured Jimmy Boeheim, Cole Swider and Symir Torrence via the transfer portal, and the Orange will also add freshman Benny Williams, a four-star recruit according to 247Sports, to their roster next season.
Published on May 26, 2021 at 12:49 pm
Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew
