Notre Dame Lands UConn Big Man Transfer Juwan Durham
Notre Dame’s basketball program landed a big commitment, figuratively and literally. Connecticut transfer Juwan Durham announced his intentions to transfer to Notre Dame.
Following his decision to leave UConn the 6-foot-11 forward took official visits to Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Villanova.
Durham provides Notre Dame with a much-needed boost in the paint, something the staff has been looking for in the last two recruiting cycles. Durham played 28 games as a freshman this past season at Connecticut, averaging 1.6 points and 1.5 rebounds per game in limited playing time.
Durham had a career-high eight points on 3-4 of shooting in a 97-51 win over South Florida. He had a career-high five rebounds on two occasions, the first in a 70-61 loss to Memphis and the second in a 69-49 loss to SMU. Durham set a career high with three blocks in a 93-82 win over Chaminade in the Maui Invitation.
Notre Dame made Durham a priority as soon as he announced his decision to transfer.
“He’s very excited and so is his family,” Joe Fenlon, Durham’s high school head coach at Tampa (Fla.) Prep, said back in May. “I think he’s really excited to start fresh. They’ve done a great job in a short period of time developing relationships and a foundation with him and his mother. That’s really what they were looking for. Someone to take interest in him and stay interested. It was a big statement when they flew to Storrs and had lunch with him one day. It was like ‘okay they do want me. He’s looking forward to it.”
Prior to Connecticut, Durham was one of the nation’s top recruits, ranking as the country’s No. 47 overall recruit. He signed with UConn after receiving offers from Kansas, Syracuse, Florida, Florida State, Indiana, Georgia Tech, NC State, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Miami (Fla.), Texas and Memphis among others.
He tore his ACL with just one game remaining left in his junior season of high school. After several months of rehab Durham was set to return for his final high school season before tearing his ACL again, this time in the other knee forcing him to miss the entire year.
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