Third-Year Women’s Basketball Player Looking to Take Up Real Estate both On and Off the Court
Oct 10 | Women's Basketball
By John Beisser, Feature Writer
Globetrotting women's basketball player Nene Ndiaye, an incoming junior transfer from Boston College, will be looking to make her mark on the Rutgers women's basketball team this season.
At 6-foot-1, the athletic and sturdy forward seeks to take up real estate, both on and off the court, as once her playing days are over, she plans to turn her attention to joining her family's residential construction business in her native Senegal. But, first things first, there's still the matter of earning her college degree while competing the next two seasons for the Scarlet Knights, before hoping to embark on a professional playing career.
Last season at Boston College, starting a career-high 10 games in 30 appearances, Ndiaye increased her playing time versus her freshman season. She scored a career-high 16 points and tied a season-best with six rebounds at Pittsburgh, ending the season by averaging 4.4 points, and 2.3 rebounds per game. Her freshman season was highlighted by a 10-point outing vs. No. 16 Louisville.
Though she started four straight games on two different occasions as a sophomore, following the 2024-25 season, she put her name in the transfer portal in search of more opportunities. Enter RU head coach Coquese Washington and the Scarlet Knights.
"I loved the vibes that Coach "Co' was giving on my visit, and since I arrived on campus, so that has been very refreshing," said the world-traveled Ndiaye who, in addition to the Senegal, has called Spain, California, Boston – and now Piscataway, her home. "She is very easy to talk to, is always smiling and for me that is very important because as an international student I don't have any family here."
"The coaches and my teammates are actually my family here", Ndiaye continued, "so it's very important that we have that connection. And I haven't had that with many of the coaches I've played for, so that has really stood out to me. The coaches are very, very nice, very welcoming and very honest, and that's definitely the main reason that I came here."
An academic All-ACC member in each of her two seasons at BC, Ndiaye, who is majoring in entrepreneurship at Rutgers, is a fiercely self-reliant and determined individual who moved from Senegal to Spain when she was just 13 years old. She lived with an uncle, who coached basketball and helped to bolster her career with an eye towards eventually landing in the United States. She speaks five different languages – English, French, Spanish, Wolof, which is the national language of Senegal, and Serere-Sine, which is an indigenous language of Senegal and the Gambia.
Ndiaye first gained the attention of U.S. collegiate basketball staffs when she earned MVP honors while competing for Spain's U14 team. She later earned a spot on the Senegal National Team but playing in the U.S. always remained at the forefront of her goals.
"The main reason I wanted to move from Spain was the basketball level. It was not as physical and challenging as I like it to be in Spain," she said. "When I came to the U.S., that's when I felt more of the challenge because just about everybody plays basketball and everybody is physical. In Spain I was always the tallest and the most physical player so I was looking for more of a challenge."
Her journey to Rutgers included several stops, the first of which was Orangewood Academy in Garden Grove, California. She then attended Arizona Compass Prep in Chandler, Arizona. Ndiaye's connection with Boston College came about through her time at Arizona Compass, where an assistant coach there had a relationship with one of BC's assistants. A dialogue was formed and, before long, she was donning the maroon and gold of the Boston College Eagles.
"The biggest adjustment I had to make from Spain to the U.S. was mostly on the basketball side because I was already speaking English," said Ndiaye. "In the house in Spain we had to use English. The NCAA rules are a little different from FIBA which I was used to playing in Spain and in the Senegal. Here in the U.S., it's always go-go-go, you go from practice to lift, games – it is way more intense in the U.S."
In a couple short weeks, Ndiaye will proudly wear the scarlet and black of Rutgers and can't wait to set foot on the court at Jersey Mike's Arena when RU kicks off the season on November 3 against Wagner.
By the time her two seasons at RU, and hopefully a long professional playing career conclude, Ndiaye will look forward to returning to her native Senegal where the family business awaits.
"I've always wanted to play professional basketball so that will be my main focus after I graduate from Rutgers, either in the WNBA or in Europe somewhere so I definitely want to experience playing as a pro," said Ndiaye. "I love real estate, especially since my dad is in it as he works as a construction manager/real estate agent - building houses and selling them. I used to go with him to work so that's probably why I love real estate so much. I'm actually working with my dad now with building houses where I invest money in his business and help with some of the design details."
Things have always seemed to go according to plan for Ndiaye and there's no reason her future will not contain more of the same.
Ndiaye counts herself as fortunate to have been provided so many opportunities, mainly through basketball, and will look to continue making the most of those opportunities in the years to come.
A recipient of seven NJ Press Association Awards for writing excellence, John Beisser ('86) served as Assistant Director in the Rutgers University Athletic Communications Office from 1991-2006, where he primarily handled sports information/media relations duties for the Scarlet Knight football and men's basketball programs. In this role, he served as managing editor for nine publications that received either National or Regional citations from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). While an undergraduate at RU, Beisser was sports director of WRSU-FM and a sportswriter/columnist for The Daily Targum. From 2007-2019, Beisser served as Assistant Athletic Director/Sports Media Relations at Wagner College, where he was the recipient of the 2019 Met Basketball Writers Association "Good Guy" Award. Beisser resides in Piscataway with his wife Aileen (RC '95,) a four-year Scarlet Knight women's lacrosse letterwinner, and their 16-year old daughter Riley.
