By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina is reportedly among the final 12 schools being considered by Rutgers center Clifford Omoruyi.

Joe Tipton of On3.com reported Tuesday that his final 12 schools are Carolina, UCLA, Kansas State, Georgia Tech, Georgetown, Baylor, Alabama, Oregon, Washington, Georgia, St. John’s and Mississippi State.

Notably, two-time reigning national champion UConn, which had been pursuing Omoruyi, didn’t make the list.

The Tar Heels need a center after Armando Bacot exhausted his eligibility, with Jalen Washington, Zayden High and Jae’Lyn Withers post players who could return.

On3.com ranks the 6–11, 240-pound shot-blocker from Benin City, Nigeria, who would be a graduate transfer, as the No. 3 center in the transfer portal and the No. 8 player overall.

Omoruyi (pronounced O-mor-ee) averaged 10.3 points and 7.7 rebounds, blocking 93 shots in 32 games last season for the Scarlet Knights. He also made the Big Ten All-Defensive Team, All-Big Ten honorable mention and was on the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year watch list.

“He’s a physically dominant big man who stands just shy of 7-feet with long arms and a chiseled frame,” said Adam Finkelstein, the director of scouting for 247Sports. “Offensively, Omoruyi does the vast majority of his damage in the paint, attempting 84% of his total shots at the rim per Pivot Analysis. While his hands were an area of concern in high school, they’ve made moderate gains in the last four years.”

According to KenPom, Omoruyi was third in the country in block percentage at 12.72% but is a career 59% shooter at the free-throw line.

An honor-roll engineering student, he blocked eight shots twice last season, against then-No. 24 Illinois on Dec. 2 and against Wisconsin on Feb. 10. Omoruyi had at least four blocks in 11 games last season and at least three blocks in 19 games. He was the first Big Ten player to record eight or more blocks in multiple league games since the 1999–2000 season.

Omoruyi’s career scoring high was 25 points against LIU on Dec. 16, and he scored at least 20 points eight times. He has 29 career double-doubles, including nine last season.

After four seasons at Rutgers, he ranks fourth in program history in field-goal percentage (54.9%), fourth in rebounds (933), sixth in blocks (221), 18th in field goals (506) and 22nd in points (1,251).

Coming out of high school at Roselle Catholic, he picked Rutgers over Arizona State, Auburn, Kentucky, UConn, Memphis, N.C. State, Miami, Alabama and Arizona, among others.

He was a four-star recruit, ranked No. 53 in the Class of 2020 by ESPN. That class included Day’Ron Sharpe at No. 12, Walker Kessler at No. 14, Caleb Love at No. 18, RJ Davis was No. 43, Dawson Garcia at No. 49 and Puff Johnson at No. 60.

Rutgers finished 15–17 last season, but Omoruyi was part of two teams that made the NCAA tournament. In 2021, the Scarlet Knights went 16–11 and earned the program’s first NCAA berth in 30 years. Their 60–56 first-round win over Clemson was the first NCAA tournament victory in 38 years.

Key events, dates

Saturday, April 27, was the deadline for players to submit their names to the NBA draft (doesn’t apply to players who were seniors last season, even though they have another year of eligibility)
Wednesday — Deadline for players to enter the transfer portal
May 11–12 — NBA G League Elite Camp in Chicago
May 12–19 — NBA Combine in Chicago
May 17–19 — Evaluation for high school players at NCAA-certified events (EYBL in Indianapolis is one of those)
May 29 at 11:59 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from NBA draft and maintain college eligibility
June 16 at 5 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from the NBA draft

UNC schedule so far

Nov. 8 — at Kansas (final AP rank No. 20; final NET ranking No. 19)
Nov. 22 — at Hawaii (final NET ranking No. 172)
Nov. 25–27 — Maui Invitational — Auburn (final AP rank No. 18; final NET ranking No. 5), Colorado (unranked; No. 25), Connecticut (No. 1; No. 2), Dayton (No. 24; No. 23), Iowa State (No. 8; No. 6), Memphis (unranked; No. 75), Michigan State (unranked; No. 24)
Dec. 14 — vs. La Salle (final NET ranking No. 195)
Likely in late November — Opponent TBA in ACC/SEC Challenge
December — vs. UCLA (final NET ranking No. 107) in CBS Sports Classic (date, location TBA)
December — vs. Florida (final NET ranking No. 29) in Jumpman Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center (date TBA)
— Games home and away against Duke, N.C. State and Pittsburgh
— Home games vs. Boston College, California, Georgia Tech, Miami, SMU, Stanford and Virginia
— Road games vs. Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest
Note: 2024 NCAA tournament teams are in bold.

Potential 2024-25 UNC roster

No.	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
—	Freshman	James Brown (4 star)	5	6–8	225
—	Freshman	Ian Jackson (5 star)	2	6–4	180
—	Freshman	Drake Powell (5 star)	2	6–5	185
2	Soph.	Elliot Cadeau	PG	6–1	180
1	Soph.	Zayden High	4	6–9	225
—	Junior	Cade Tyson	3	6–7	203
13	Junior	Jalen Washington	5	6–10	230
0	Junior	Seth Trimble	2	6–3	195
5	Graduate	RJ Davis	PG	6–0	180
		Eligible for fifth season
24	Graduate	Jae’Lyn Withers	4	6–9	215
		Walk-ons eligible for 5th season
14	Graduate	Creighton Lebo	PG	6–1	180
22	Graduate	Rob Landry	2	6–4	190