NC State basketball transfer Ismael Diouf is serving a two-game suspension for impermissible participation in the Canadian Elite Basketball League during the summer before signing on with the Wolfpack for his junior season.

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So, the 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward sat out NC State’s season opener on Friday night, a 97-66 home win over the USC Upstate Spartans. And Diouf will miss the Wolfpack’s contest against the visiting Presbyterian Blue Hose in the Lenovo Center at 7 p.m. ET Friday (ACC Network Extra).

In April, the Montreal Alliance selected Ismael Diouf with the first overall pick in the 2024 CEBL Draft. The 22-year-old from Quebec, who was the MVP of the CIAU Championship as a sophomore at Laval College last season and figures to carve out a role in the paint for the 2024-25 Wolfpack, suited up for the Alliance in five games.

“Ismael, because of the team he was on, somehow the NCAA decided that he was gonna serve a two-game suspension,” Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts explained following the opener. “And so, after Friday, he will be fully cleared to play. But he won’t be available Friday either.”

Diouf played eight minutes off the bench in the NC State basketball squad’s 79-74 home exhibition win over the Lees-McRae Bobcats on Friday night, tallying two points, three rebounds, and one block.

His potential regular season debut for the Wolfpack will come in the home bout against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at 7 p.m. ET next Wednesday, Nov. 13 (ACC Network Extra).

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