Duke Basketball Signee Provides Quality Minutes in 96-Point Victory

Incoming Duke basketball rookie Patrick Ngongba II helped power a dominant start to the United States' time in Buenos Aires.

Duke basketball freshman Patrick Ngongba II / Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Patrick Ngongba II is the only member of the Duke basketball program's six-deep 2024 recruiting haul who was not on campus last week for K Academy. Instead, the 6-foot-11 center was with the USA Basketball U18 Men's National Team preparing for the FIBA AmeriCup in Buenos Aires.

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That action tipped off on Monday. And it's safe to say the U.S. squad has fared well thus far, including some promising contributions off the bench from Ngongba.

Team USA finished 3-0 in group play, which determines seeding for Friday's quarterfinal matchups.

In Monday's 88-66 opening victory over Argentina, Ngongba played 12 minutes, finishing with three points, three boards, and one block. He followed that up on Tuesday with 12 points, six rebounds, three assists, one block, and zero turnovers, shooting 3-for-7 from the field and 6-for-8 at the charity stripe across his 19 minutes on the floor in an extremely lopsided 150-54 blowout over Belize.

Patrick Ngongba 12 PTS, 6 REB, 3 AST Highlights | FIBA U18 AmeriCup vs Belize 😈🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/n5dkDL90Ms

— DukeLights 𝕏 (@DukeLightsX) June 5, 2024

And on Wednesday, the 18-year-old played 11 minutes in an 88-57 win over Brazil, tallying two points and eight rebounds.

He's now averaging 5.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in 13.8 minutes per outing at the FIBA AmeriCup.

Patrick Ngongba II, a five-star prospect out of prep powerhouse Paul VI Catholic (Va.) who ranks No. 25 overall on the 247Sports 2024 Composite, and his U.S. teammates faces Puerto Rico (0-3, Group A) on Friday. The semifinals are on Saturday, and the championship game takes place on Sunday night.

The other five pieces to Duke basketball's top-ranked batch of incoming rookies are five-star forward Cooper Flagg, five-star center Khaman Maluach, five-star forward Isaiah Evans, five-star forward Kon Knueppel, and Ngongba's Paul VI Catholic teammate, four-star wing Darren Harris.

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