Notre Dame sophomore reserve center Chris Doherty will transfer, per Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey during his Tuesday meeting with media members.
The 6-8, 235-pound Doherty was one of five freshmen to enroll in the 2018 recruiting class but has seen limited action.
The original plan was to redshirt him his freshman season, but the transfer of senior captain/forward Elijah Burns in November, a season-ending injury to Rex Pflueger in December and a knee injury in early January to center Juwan Durham that slowed him the rest of the season forced Doherty into the lineup, albeit not extensively.
He ended up totaling 42 minutes (just over a full game) in 11 game appearances that burned his year of eligibility.
This year during Notre Dame’s 6-1 start, Doherty played a total of 15 minutes in six games, converting 3 of 4 field goals and grabbing four rebounds.
Current center Juwan Durham has one more season of eligibility remaining, and 6-10 sophomore Nate Laszewski has been seeing more action in a role beyond just a stretch-four figure.
The Irish also signed two big men last month for the 2020 recruiting cycle: 6-8 Elijah Taylor from powerful Imhotep Institute in Philadelphia, and 6-9 Matt Zona from Bergen Catholic in Oradell, N.J.
Brey and his staff are continuing to recruit 7-1, 265-pound Hunter Dickinson from DeMatha Catholic in Maryland.
During his Tuesday conference previewing Wednesday’s game at No. 3 Maryland in the ACC/Big Ten challenge, Brey revealed that he had met with Doherty recently regarding the decision.
“I fully understand the way this climate in college basketball [is] as far as playing time,” Brey said. “It’s been hard to get to him with Juwan, Johnny (Mooney) and Nate playing so well. He’ll finish school, he’s not going to be with the team anymore, and it will help him find the next place.”
Doherty’s departure leaves Notre Dame with nine scholarship players for the remainder of the 2019-20 campaign:
• Fifth-year senior wing Pflueger.
• Seniors Mooney, Durham, guard T.J. Gibbs and wing Nikola Djogo, who could apply for a fifth season next year like Durham.
• Sophomores Laszewski along with guards Prentiss Hubb, Dane Goodwin and Robby Carmody. A fifth member in the class, guard Cormac Ryan, transferred from Stanford this summer and is ineligible for action this season per NCAA rules.
“We’ll figure it out,” said Brey of the shorter bench. “It’s kind of the way of the world."
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