Kenechukwu "KC" Ndefo (born March 1, 2000) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for Panerythraikos of the Greek Elite League. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Saint Peter's Peacocks The Saint Peter's Peacocks are the sixteen intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Saint Peter's University, located in Jersey City, New Jersey. The Peacocks compete in the NCAA Division I and are founding members of the Metro Atlantic A ...

and the

Seton Hall Pirates The Seton Hall Pirates are the intercollegiate athletic sports teams representing Seton Hall University, located in South Orange, New Jersey. The Pirates compete as a member of the NCAA Division I level (non-football sub-level), primarily compet ...

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. Ndefo helped Elmont Memorial win the Nassau Championship as a junior. He finished with 22 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks in the title game and hit the game-winning buzzer-beating shot in the 58–56 win against South Side High School. 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. He committed to playing college basketball for Saint Peter's, the only Division I school to offer him a scholarship.

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 Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

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 last played for Spartak Subotica of the Basketball League of Serbia. He played for Northwestern State from 2008–09 through 2011–12. He is best known for l ...

Northwestern State Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSULA) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Johnson and Alexandria. It is a part of the Un ...

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 The Quinnipiac were a historical Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. They lived in present-day New Haven County, Connecticut, along the Quinnipiac River. Their primary village, also called Quinnipiac, was where New Haven, Connect ...

. 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 NBA draft, draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New ...

and entered the

NCAA transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool created to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member institutions. It is i ...

. 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. He played college basketball at Seton Hall from 1996 to 2000. A point guard, Holloway played professional ...

, 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 The 2023 NBA draft, the 77th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on June 22, 2023, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The draft consisted of 58 picks instead of the typical 60 for the second ...

, Ndefo joined the

Ontario Clippers The San Diego Clippers are a professional basketball team based in San Diego County, California, that competes in the NBA G League. The team plays its home games at Frontwave Arena. The Clippers began play in the 2017–18 NBA G League season, 20 ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

on October 30, 2023, following a tryout. However, he was waived on November 7. On January 9, 2024, he joined the

Texas Legends The Texas Legends are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Frisco, Texas, and are affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks. The Legends play their home games at the Comerica Center. The team began as the Colorado 14 ...

, but was waived on January 26. Four days later, he joined the

Memphis Hustle The Memphis Hustle are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in the Greater Memphis suburb of Southaven, Mississippi, and are affiliated with the Memphis Grizzlies. The team plays their home games at the Landers C ...

. However, he was waived on February 9 and re-signed three days later. On February 27, he was waived by Memphis. On February 29, he joined the

South Bay Lakers The South Bay Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, that competes in the NBA G League. Founded in 2006 as the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the team is owned by the Los Angeles Lakers, who were the first ...

and on December 3, he was waived. On January 4, 2025, Ndefo signed with Panerythraikos of the Greek Elite League.

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 ...

, 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 ...

, style="text-align:left;",

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

, 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 21st-century American sportsmen Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn) alumni American basketball players of Nigerian descent American expatriate basketball people in Greece American men's basketball players Basketball players from Nassau County, New York Memphis Hustle players Sportspeople from Elmont, New York Power forwards Saint Peter's Peacocks men's basketball players Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball players South Bay Lakers players Texas Legends players