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Following Syracuse men’s basketball’s 70-54 win over Colgate on Wednesday night, Coach Jim Boeheim announced in his postgame press conference that freshman center John Bol Ajak will redshirt this season.
With a deeper front-court, playing time would be sparse for the 6-foot-10 freshman this year. Two games into the season, Ajak is behind starter Bourama Sidibe, fellow freshman Jesse Edwards, and possibly Marek Dolezaj in the Orange’s center rotation. It would take an injury to Sidibe or Edwards for him to see meaningful game time.
Due to visa issues, Ajak, who is from South Sudan, also did not travel to Italy in August for the team’s four-game tour. In 11 minutes across the two preseason exhibition games, he recorded three rebounds, a missed free throw, and one foul.
Ajak will have four years of elibility remaining after this season.