Cormac Ryan, who played the last three seasons at Notre Dame, has committed to play basketball at North Carolina as a grad transfer, Ryan confirmed to THI this evening.
A native of New York, NY, Ryan was a 4-star prospect out of high school and ranked the No. 79 overall player in the class of 2018, He initially went to Stanford for a year where he played for former UNC assistant coach Jerod Haase.
But Ryan transferred to Notre Dame after one season and sat out the 2019-20 campaign per transfer rules at the time. He then played three seasons for the Fighting Irish, but gets the Covid year back, so he has one year of eligibility remaining.
A three-year team captain at Notre Dame, Ryan regularly drew praise from Mike Brey, his coach all three seasons who recently retired.
“Nobody empties the tank like this guy,” Brey said in a postgame press conference following a season-ending loss to Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament. “He was my lifeline to talk to the team during a tough couple months, and he just kept doing it. I’m extremely proud of him. He’s going to be an amazingly successful young man. I may be working for him one day.”
The Irish finished 11-21 overall and 3-17 in the ACC a year after winning two games in the NCAA Tournament. Ryan was second on the team in scoring at 12.3 points per contest. He also averaged 4.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.3 steals, while shooting 40.9 percent from the floor, including 34.4 percent from 3-point range.
He closed the season strong averaging 16.6 points over the last five games, and scored in double figures in 11 of the last 13 games. Ryan, who is 6-foot-5 and weighs 195 pounds, and can play either guard position and even small forward at times, scored 20 or more points three times last season.
He scored 15-plus points nine times. Ryan averaged 11 points in two games against Carolina last season.
Perhaps Ryan’s best game last season was in a 70-52 rout of No. 20 Michigan State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. He scored 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including 6-for-7 from the perimeter.
“He's our voice,” Brey said afterward in the postgame press conference “He's our vibe. He's our emotion. He just sets a tone for us.”
Ryan scored 15 or more points 17 times with the Irish, and was at 20 or more points six times.
His career-high was 29 points in a win over Alabama last year in the NCAA Tournament. In fact, in three NCAA games that season, Ryan scored 54 points while shooting 11-for-24 from the perimeter. He also scored 28 points in a win at Duke in 2021.
Cormac Ryan Highlights
