NC State Forward Mohamed Diarra will not be returning to NC State for his final season of eligibility. Rather, he will give 100% of his focus to pursuing his professional career.
Diarra is declaring for the NBA Draft, and will explore that possibility as far as it goes, but the likelihood of him playing professionally in his home country of France are high.
Diarra was a significant player for NC State all season long, averaging 6.3 points and 7.8 rebounds (team high), but his impact in March was tremendous, recording 10+ rebounds in 7 of the Wolfpack’s 10 postseason games, and five of those performances were double-doubles.
Wolfpack fans will always remember the grit and mental toughness that Diarra put on display in the NCAA Tournament, playing game-after-game while fasting for Ramadan.
The Wolfpack’s frontcourt just got a little bit thinner. In the past two weeks, NC State has lost Diarra and Ernest Ross. Ben Middlebrooks is returning, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield transferred in from Louisville. Dontrez Styles transferred in from Georgetown, and while he is more of a Small Forward, in certain lineups, he could play the Small 4 position. With all that being said, I fully expect NC State to try to find another post player in the Transfer Portal with Diarra’s exodus now official.
With Diarra not returning in 2024, NC State now has 2 scholarships available for next season.
We have 3 remaining brutal away games, at WF, at Charlottesville, and at Cameron. This is probably the least difficult of the 3.
We can win it, but something(s) needs to work really well. Smith needs to be his best self again, or we need to defend the arc better than we’ve done recently, or Morsell needs a monster game again, or Ross/Gantt have their best game, or we get someone back and they play surprisingly well, or something. The team that played ND Tuesday will not win.
This is going to be a very tough game. WF coming off a loss and playing at home. It will take resolute toughness and rebounding. A win would be huge and really set us up nicely for the late season close out.
If Clark is ready to go, is he going to be a little rusty? It will be interesting to see how KK adjusts the rotation. A big game from someone like Ross could really be the difference.