BOISE – Guard Sada NgaNga is transferring from the Boise State basketball team after just one year with the program, sources told BroncoNationNews.com Wednesday.
NgaNga, the highest-ranked prep recruit in program history, averaged just 2.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in 17 games for the Broncos and largely underachieved given the hype he arrived with.
The Angola native was rated a four-star, top-100 recruit during his senior year at Compass Prep in Phoenix by both ESPN and 247Sports. He had offers from Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Arizona and Auburn when he committed to Boise State last February.
But his Boise State career got off to a slow start – he missed summer workouts due to complications from playing with the Angola National Team – and an injury in December slowed his progress even more.
NgaNga struggled to make the jump from high school to the physicality and speed of the Division I level and never was able to crack Boise State’s rotation – much to the frustration, surprise and disappointment of many fans. He played just 109 minutes all season, and didn’t appear in the final eight games.
His best game against NAIA Eastern Oregon on Dec. 6, when he scored 13 points and had six rebounds in 19 minutes. He had five points in 12 minutes against Oakland and five points in 10 minutes against Loyola Chicago, but otherwise scored just 12 total points all season.
NgaNga didn’t score a point in Mountain West play and only appeared in four league games for the Broncos.
He told Bronco Nation News and KTVB after the loss to Northwestern that he planned to come back to the Broncos next season.
“Yes, for sure,” NgaNga said when asked if he expected to return for his sophomore season.
But he admitted being away from friends and family had been tough, as was the lack of playing time.
“It was hard in the beginning because you come from being a top recruit in high school and you’re not playing,” NgaNga said. “It was hard in the beginning, but I talked with myself and said if I just sit and do nothing it’s not going to help me. So I went in the gym and got my work in and kept waiting for them to call my name.”
The potential is certainly there for the 6-foot-10 NgaNga, but he figured to be behind the trio of Chibuzo Agbo, Max Rice and Tyson Degenhart again and likely wouldn’t have seen the amount of playing time that he desired.
“I feel like I got a lot better from before coming here,” NgaNga said. “Not just the basketball side but the physical side and getting stronger.”
NgaNga is the third player to transfer from the Broncos since the end of the season, joining center Burke Smith and guard Pavle Kuzmanovic, both reserves who like NgaNga didn’t play much.
The Broncos added UC San Diego point guard transfer Roddie Anderson III on Tuesday. The departure of NgaNga gives Boise State two more scholarships to use in the transfer portal The Broncos are looking for a starting center, but now have an extra spot to play with.
Boise State went 24-10 last season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.
Here was NgaNga’s interview after the loss to Northwestern…
