Briefs: Undrafted Ndiaye set for NBA Summer League
Mamadou Ndiaye, who gave up his final year of eligibility at UC Irvine, will embark on his professional basketball career playing for the Golden State Warriors’ summer league team, he announced via Twitter on Thursday.
The 7-foot-6 Ndiaye, who was twice the Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Year and went undrafted in two rounds of the NBA Draft, declared: “I’m excited to say that I’ll be going with the Golden State Warriors.”
The summer league runs July 8 through July 18 at UNLV.
Ndiaye, 22, a native of Senegal, averaged 12.1 points and 7.2 rebounds as a junior, helping the Anteaters produce a school-record 28 wins, share the conference regular-season title, and reach the final of the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament.
A first-team all-conference performer as a junior, he was also part of the 2014-15 UCI team that won the Big West Tournament and earned the program’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
His 218 career blocked shots rank No. 1 at UCI and No. 3 in Big West annals.
The Warriors drafted 7-0 center Damian Jones out of Vanderbilt with the 30th pick. They finished the season with Andrew Bogut (7-0), Festus Ezeli (6-11), Anderson Verajao (6-11) and Marreese Speights (6-10) on their roster.
— Barry Faulkner
— Barry Faulkner
Mikulak leading
Sam Mikulak, a Corona del Mar High product, leads the all-around competition after one day of the two-day U.S. Olympic trails in men’s gymnastics at St. Louis University.
Mikulak, 24, a four-time U.S. all-around champion and 2012 Olympian, produced 272.15 points on Thursday to forge a cushion over Chris Brooks (269.025), who is in second.
The final day of the competition for the 18 athlete-field is Saturday.
Five athletes will be selected to represent the United States in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August.
— From staff reports
— From staff reports
UCI sprinter 18th
Persis Mensah-Williams, an Estancia High product who will be a junior at UC Irvine in the fall, finished fifth in her 100-meter semifinal heat and 18th among 22 competitors at the African Senior Track and Field Championships on Wednesday in Durban, South Africa.
Mensah-Williams’ time of 12.01 seconds ranked third among representatives from Ghana, for whom she will also compete in the 4x100 relay at the ongoing event.
The 16 top 4x100 relay teams from around the world will qualify for the Olympics in Brazil.
— From staff reports
— From staff reports
UCI’s Shin earns match-play title
Bryan Shin, who will be a senior at UC Irvine in the fall, won the Long Beach Match Play Championship that concluded Sunday at El Dorado Park Golf Course.
The No. 4-seeded Shin defeated No. 7-seeded Matt Lutz in 37 holes of Sunday’s final.
Lutz recently completed his sophomore year at UC Riverside.
Shin won a pair of matches Saturday to advance to Sunday’s final. He topped No. 5-seeded Travis Johnson, 3 & 2 in a quarterfinal match and No. 25-seeded Michael Lascari, 4 & 3 in the semifinals.
The tournament began June 4-5 with the top 64 from 36 holes of stroke play advancing to match play. Shin shot five-under-par 139 (70-69) on the opening weekend to move into match-play competition.
With the title, Shin receives an invitation into the amateur field of the Long Beach Open July 28-31 at El Dorado Park and Skylinks Golf Courses.
— From staff reports
— From staff reports