About Auburn's French 7-footer, Narcisse Ngoy

Head Coach Steven Pearl adds a much-needed boost to Auburn basketball's frontcourt with the signing of French center Narcisse Ngoy.

Although the Tigers are still competing in the NIT, with the championship coming this Sunday, they're already checking boxes on the offseason to-do list. With Emeka Opurum out with a season-long injury and his future playing time up in the air, along with KeShawn Murphy’s eligibility coming to an end, Auburn has signed Narcisse Ngoy, a dominant 7-foot-tall French center with an elite 7-foot-7 wingspan.

Ngoy previously played in the Elite 2 division, the second-tier level of men's professional basketball in France, where he averaged an efficient 10.8 points per game along with league-leading rebounding and block totals of 11.5 and 2.5 per game. He's a true rim protector and defensive anchor that Auburn has sorely missed this season. He also appears to be a good fit for the Tigers, based on Coach Pearl’s comments about his work ethic:

“What stands out the most is his commitment to winning. He’s not focused on individual numbers—he takes pride in doing the hard, physical work that helps his team succeed,” Pearl added. “He competes at a high level, processes the game well, and understands how to play within a system.”  

Narcisse Ngoy Highlights (Mostly Dunks)

Roster Outlook

Somehow, Auburn has played some of its most complete basketball without a true center during the NIT, but I would expect the Tigers to be on the lookout for at least one more big man in addition to Ngoy.

There's still plenty of off-season work to do but if Auburn can manage to hang on to some combination of Tahaad Pettiford, Kevin Overton, Sebastian Williams-Adams, Filip Jović, and Kaden Magwood, they'll have a strong foundation to build around.

War Eagle all year long. Subscribe for free and I'll send the next article straight to your inbox.