Notre Dame men's basketball finally found its post presence in the transfer portal.
Monmouth forward Nikita Konstantynovskyi announced Tuesday on social media his commitment to transfer to Notre Dame for the 2024-25 season. The 6-foot-10, 245-pound Konstantynovskyi, a native of Ukraine, started 32 of Monmouth's 33 games last season and averaged 9.3 points and 8.1 rebounds in 23.5 minutes per game.
Konstantynovskyi fielded interest from a number of teams, but he committed to Notre Dame following a visit with the Irish on Friday. Konstantynovskyi also visited Ole Miss.
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Notre Dame will be Konstantynovskyi's fourth college program. After attending Secondary School No. 163 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Konstantynovskyi landed at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, a junior college in Miami, Okla. He started 19 games and averaged 8.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game as a freshman. He upped those totals to 11.1 and 8.0, respectively, the following season.
Konstantynovskyi then transferred to Tulsa. He started nine games and played in 27 of them in his first season at Tulsa with modest stats — 2.0 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. An injury limited his second season at Tulsa, 2022-23, to just two games, which qualified him for a redshirt season.
At Monmouth, Konstantynovskyi played a significant role on a team that improved its win total by 11 games from the previous season. The Hawks (18-15, 10-8) climbed from dead last in the Coastal Athletic Association in 2022-23 with only five conference wins.
Konstantynovskyi led Monmouth in rebounding (8.1) and finished third in scoring (9.3) while shooting 52.6% from the field. He attempted just one 3-pointer and missed. Konstantynovskyi shot 65.2% from the free-throw line.
Konstantynovskyi totaled 30 assists, 20 blocks, 17 steals and 36 turnovers on the season.
Notre Dame has now addressed two needs in the transfer portal in adding experience in the backcourt and frontcourt. Princeton guard Matt Allocco committed to a graduate transfer to Notre Dame in April. Konstantynovsky helps replace the transfer portal exits of forwards Carey Booth (Illinois) and Matt Zona (Fordham). Booth averaged 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds last season. Zona averaged 2.3 in both categories.
Notre Dame's projected roster for the 2024-25 season now includes 12 scholarship players, though that counts sophomore-to-be Markus Burton, who entered his name in the NBA Draft pool, but is expected to return to Notre Dame. The NCAA scholarship limit for men's basketball is 13.
Inside ND Sports confirmed Tuesday that guard Tony Sanders Jr. won't return to the team after graduating this year.
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