Kenechukwu "KC" Ndefo (born March 1, 2000) is an American
basketball player who is a free agent. He played
college basketball for the
Saint Peter's Peacocks
The Saint Peter's Peacocks are the sixteen intercollegiate athletic teams that representing Saint Peter's University, located in Jersey City, New Jersey. The Peacocks compete in the NCAA Division I and are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic ...
and the
Seton Hall Pirates.
High school career
Ndefo began his high school career at
Elmont Memorial High School.
[ He helped lead team to a Class A state title as a sophomore.]South Side High School Southside High School or South Side High School may refer to:
*Southside High School (Gadsden, Alabama)
*Southside High School (Dallas County, Alabama), a school in the Dallas County Schools system
* Southside High School (Batesville, Arkansas)
* ...
. After his junior season, Ndefo transferred to Abraham Lincoln High School. He averaged 14 points and 9 rebounds per game as a senior. In January 2018, the New York Board of Education ruled Ndefo ineligible, causing him to miss the remainder of the season.
College career
As a freshman, Ndefo averaged 7.8 points and 5 rebounds per game. Ndefo averaged 8.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1.4 steals per game as a sophomore. He was named MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, MAAC Sixth Man of the Year, and Third Team All-MAAC. Ndefo posted a career-high seven blocks against Siena on January 23, 2021. On February 26, 2021 he scored a career-high 22 points in a 66–52 win against Rider. As a junior, Ndefo averaged 13.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 50 percent from the floor. His 3.6 blocks per game led Division I in that category, and he was the shortest player to lead the nation in blocked shots per game since William Mosley
William Ralph Mosley, Jr. (born June 22, 1989) is an American basketball center who plays for Shinshu Brave Warriors of the Japanese B.League. He played for Northwestern State from 2008–09 through 2011–12. He is best known for leading NCA ...
of Northwestern State
Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSU) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the Univer ...
in 2011. He was named to the First Team All-MAAC as well as repeating as MAAC Defensive Player of the Year. Following the season, Ndefo entered the transfer portal, but ultimately returned to Saint Peter's. On February 4, 2022, he scored 14 points and had a program-high 11 blocks in an 83–74 victory over Quinnipiac. Ndefo also surpassed the 1,000-point mark during the game. He was named to the Third Team All-MAAC as well as MAAC Defensive Player of the Year for the third consecutive season, becoming only the third player in MAAC history to win the award three times. Ndefo helped lead the Peacocks to a MAAC tournament title and a surprising run to the Elite 8 in the subsequent NCAA tournament as a 15-seed. Following the season, Ndefo declared for the 2022 NBA draft
The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The ...
and entered the NCAA transfer portal.
On May 28, 2022, Ndefo transferred to Seton Hall, following his head coach Shaheen Holloway
Shaheen Holloway (born October 7, 1976) is an American men's basketball coach and former player who is the coach for the Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball, Seton Hall Pirates. He played college basketball at Seton Hall from 1996 to 2000. A point ...
, who left Saint Peter's after the 2021–22 season to fill the head coaching vacancy at his alma mater.
Professional career
After going undrafted in the 2023 NBA draft, Ndefo joined the Ontario Clippers of the NBA G League on October 30, 2023, following a tryout. However, he was waived on November 7.
Career statistics
College
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 2018–19
, style="text-align:left;", Saint Peter's
, 31 , , 19 , , 27.3 , , .437 , , .222 , , .657 , , 5.0 , , .9 , , .9 , , 1.8 , , 7.8
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 2019–20
, style="text-align:left;", Saint Peter's
, 28 , , 2 , , 22.0 , , .462 , , .000 , , .636 , , 5.3 , , 1.1 , , 1.4 , , 2.4 , , 8.5
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
, style="text-align:left;", Saint Peter's
, 25 , , 24 , , 28.8 , , .504 , , .118 , , .597 , , 6.5 , , 1.5 , , 1.4 , , style="background:#cfecec;" , 3.6* , , 13.7
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 2021–22
, style="text-align:left;", Saint Peter's
, 34 , , 34 , , 25.9 , , .470 , , .286 , , .537 , , 6.1 , , 2.4 , , 1.3 , , 2.8 , , 10.5
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 2022–23
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
, style="text-align:left;", Seton Hall
, 33 , , 32 , , 26.1 , , .525 , , .200 , , .657 , , 5.2 , , 1.5 , , 1.0 , , 1.9 , , 8.4
, - class="sortbottom"
, style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career
, 151 , , 110 , , 26.0 , , .480 , , .202 , , .608 , , 5.6 , , 1.5 , , 1.2 , , 2.5 , , 9.7
References
External links
Saint Peter's Peacocks bioSeton Hall Pirates bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ndefo, KC
2000 births
Living people
Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn) alumni
American men's basketball players
American sportspeople of Nigerian descent
Basketball players from Nassau County, New York
People from Elmont, New York
Power forwards (basketball)
Saint Peter's Peacocks men's basketball players
Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball players