SOUTH BEND — The trickle, which may eventually become a fast-flowing river, has started for Notre Dame basketball.
A pair of sophomores, point guard Sir Mohammed and power forward Garrett Sundra, will enter the transfer portal when it opens next month. Both announced within an hour of the other on Tuesday afternoon.
A former Top 50 recruit and part of head coach Micah Shrewsberry’s first full recruiting class at Notre Dame, Mohammed struggled in two seasons to showcase the skills that made him such a coveted recruit. With Markus Burton as the team’s starting point guard, Mohammed rarely played the position he played so well at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Last fall, the 6-foot-6, 215-pound Mohammed earned rotation minutes, but at backup power forward. Anything to get on the court in a program that had its share of perimeter players. Even when Burton was lost with a season-ending ankle injury in early December, Mohammed never settled into the true point guard role.
One of five Irish to play in all 31 games with only five starts this past season, Mohammed averaged 5.7 points and 2.6 rebounds in 16.3 minutes. He shot .420 percent from the field, .286 percent from 3 and .545 from the foul line. In 506 minutes, he finished with 48 assists to 46 turnovers.
He scored a career high 21 points in the Dec. 13, 2025 win over Evansville. It was the only 20-plus point game of his college career.
The 6-11, 230-pound Sundra, who played in 31 games and started 16 this past season, averaged 3.5 points and 3.2 rebounds in 17.9 minutes. He shot .444 percent from the field, .308 percent from 3 and .632 from the foul line. He lost his starting job during league play to freshman Brady Koehler.
Mohammed and Sundra are the fourth and fifth players to transfer from Notre Dame during Shrewsberry’s tenure, where he is 41-56 overall, 19-39 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Former Seton Hall swingman Tae Davis transferred last spring to Oklahoma. Former South Bend Saint Joseph all-state swingman J.R. Konieczny, who spent four years at Notre Dame, played this past season at Florida Gulf Coast University.
Former Irish forward Carey Booth, who played one season at Notre Dame, played one year at Illinois before playing this past season at Colorado State.
Mohammed’s freshman year was derailed by a knee injury suffered early during summer workouts. He had surgery in the fall and missed nine games. Mohammed averaged 3.1 points and 1.9 rebounds with 23 assists in 13.2 minutes over 23 games.
Still, Mohammed, Sundra and classmate Cole Certa were quick to announce via social media after his freshman season that he would return for his sophomore season. Why?
“We love each other; we love this program,” Mohammed told the Tribune last fall. “When we committed here, we were here to do something special together. I don’t think we thought about the easy way out.”
Notre Dame has a point guard — La Lumiere School senior Jonathan Sanderson — set to enroll in June. His addition, and the return of Burton (transfer portal pending), would have further squeezed Mohammed for point guard minutes. The departures of Mohammed and Sundra leave Notre Dame with 12 scholarship players set for 2026-27. The maximum is 15.
It is expected that more Irish will follow Mohammed and Sundra to the portal, which opens April 7 (the day after the NCAA championship game) and closes April 21. For schools who have a change in head coaches, the portal will open for a special 15-day window.
Players who transfer elsewhere are immediately eligible to play the following season. There is no longer a sit-out season, which was part of the old transfer process. Mohammed will have two years of eligibility elsewhere remaining beginning with the 2026-27 season.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: What Notre Dame basketball players are headed for the transfer portal?
Reporting by Tom Noie, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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