Rutgers Basketball has added a former McDonald's All-American to help fill its center need.
Baye Fall, ranked 36th nationally in the 2023 Rivals150, has verbally committed to the Scarlet Knights, he announced on Instagram Sunday morning. Fall spent his freshman season at Arkansas before transferring to Kansas State as a sophomore, entering the portal for the second time following the season.
The Senegal native has played in 13 career games in two years - nine as a freshman with the Razorbacks and four with the Wildcats - and has averaged 1.3 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks in 5.4 minutes per game. He will have two years of eligibility remaining.
The uber-athletic big man signifies another move to head closer to a team focused more on its core tenets of defense and rebounding, a shift head coach Steve Pikiell has expressed a desire to make.
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Rutgers originally recruited Fall in the 2023 class by former assistant coach Karl Hobbs, taking an official visit with the program in September of 2022. He ultimately chose Arkansas and head coach Eric Musselman.
After playing his high school basketball at Accelerated Schools (Col.), Fall played 44 total minutes with the Razorbacks across nine games. He scored seven points on 1-for-2 shooting from the floor (5-for-15 from the free throw line), while grabbing 12 rebounds (five offensive) and blocking six shots. He entered the transfer portal following the season, ultimately committing to Kansas State
With the WIldcats, Fall scored ten points across four games, shooting 5-for-8 from the floor while not attempting a free throw or three-pointer. All of his field goal attempts came at the rim.
Despite not seeing much playing time in his two-year collegiate career, Fall will compete with returning center Emmanuel Ogbole for the starting center spot at Rutgers. He also has the ability to play power forward, but with the lack of spacing between the two it seems more likely Fall will just play the big man spot.
At 6-foot-11 and 215 pounds, he was touted as an athletic rim protector and rebounder, and has shown flashes of that potential in a very limited sample size. On his career, he has a 12.9 percent block rate, leading both teams in his respective season with them. He also recorded a 17.6 percent offensive rebounding rate with Kansas State, which led the team by a wide margin.
Playing just 2.7% of his team's minutes through two years means the sameple size is extremely small, but it could show his potential coming out of high school is still within him and could be unlocked with more playing time.
Fall will also have a chance to work with assistant coach Jay Young, who is credited for the development of several big men - including Myles Johnson - in his first tenure as an assistant under Pikiell.
It remains to be seen whether Fall will win the starting job over Ogbole or provide depth, but the Scarlet Knights land a former highly-touted recruit to fill the rim protecting need.
He becomes the 11th player on the roster, leaving four open spots.
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