Your George Mason Patriots have brought in 6’9 2025 four-star forward/center Emmanuel Kanga for an official visit. Kanga attends Mount Zion in Maryland and plays for DC Premier.
George Mason is hosting 2025 6’8 4-star forward/center Emmanuel Kanga today for an official visit.
Kanga attends Mount Zion and plays for DC Premier. He received an offer from Mason on July 24th. @Kangaemmanuel25
📸 creds – @EliteHSscouting pic.twitter.com/BqRx6NMepU— George Mason Recruiting (@GMURecruiting) September 12, 2024
Emmanuel is of Gabanese descent, and played for Gabon’s Hope Basketball Club in the Road To BAL 2023 league in 2022, per FIBA.
Been a solid first week! We appreciate the coaches that pulled through!
-George Mason University
-South Carolina University
-University of Maryland
-Longwood University
-Binghamton University
-Holy Cross University
-Mississippi State University
-Georgetown University pic.twitter.com/kQv6qVEuoT— Mt. Zion Prep (@MtZionPrep) September 6, 2024
Mason visited Mount Zion during their first week of practice and must have liked what they saw from Kanga.
The Gabanese big has offers from Mason, Charleston, Nicholls State, Maryland, Georgetown, Towson, George Washington, Fairfield, and FIU. The local DMV schools really seem to like him.
I could be wrong, but from what I can find, Mason is Emmanuel’s only visit so far, official or unofficial.
Kanga is a four-star on On3, having a 92 rating, and being ranked 93rd in the country. He is a three-star according to 247’s Composite ranking, having him as a .9346, the 125th best in the country, and third best in the state of Maryland.
According to @ColbyGHoops on Twitter/X, a trusted source, Emmanuel went down with a knee injury last fall, which would explain the low volume, but higher quality of offers for him. He bounced back well it seems.
Mason’s visitor seems to be a very good lob catcher, with him having some awesome bounce.
6’9” 2025 Big Emmanuel Kanga JUMPED on the scene at the CBG Grassroots Tip-Off with @DC_Premier_
– He recently received his first offer from College of Charleston pic.twitter.com/U8zs3w8ifi
— Commonwealth Basketball Group (@theCBGLive) April 16, 2023
It’s tough to tell from that angle, but his head MIGHT be at the rim.
Kanga is good at getting inside positioning for offensive boards, and is likely more athletic than the guy he’s jostling for position with.
I’m not going to say Emmanuel has a polished post game, but there’s definitely more there than some guys you come across. Kanga has a nice spin move that he goes to a decent bit, and has footwork that is advanced for a rising high school senior.
If the opponent is running a zone, he can get the ball at the free throw line and look to pass it elsewhere. I don’t think Kanga’s shooting range is that far, as I have only seen video of him attempting a single jump shot, a missed three that looked okay, but he is able to pass to the open man.
Emmanuel’s biggest strength early on would be his rim running and rolling to the basket. If the opposing center helps a bit to the ball-handler, Kanga has the instincts to cut to the rim.
I watched a couple of minutes DC Premier’s game against Canada Elite to get an idea of what type of defender he is.
Kanga seems to be able to hold his own in the post, forcing a guy to travel after his first two moves didn’t work.
Emmanuel is good at balancing drop and catch coverage in the pick-and-roll game, making sure that the ball-handler doesn’t have a lot of free space to work with, but also making sure that it would be extremely difficult to get a pass around him to the rolling big.
Kanga may not have the best technique, but his help defense movement is definitely not behind. Being on time is important for a young big, the technique can come later.
The big man can get caught in transition, as it doesn’t seem like his stamina is the best.
With some polish, I could definitely see him becoming a plus defender.
I have to say this for every big man that could potentially come in; Steve Curran’s track record of developing big men bodes very well for Kanga hitting the higher end of his potential.
I want to make it clear that I am not saying Curran has one foot out of the door, but he was reportedly a candidate for a couple head coaching jobs, so any season could be his last in Fairfax. He deserves to run the show somewhere. It’s important to get young bigs now so that they can develop under him while he is still with the team.
Regarding team fit/timeline, ignoring the possibility of incoming and outgoing transfers, Kanga would be able to develop during his freshman season and get impact playing time as a sophomore, with both Jalen Haynes and Giovanni Emejuru’s final season of eligibility lining up with Emmanuel’s freshman year. He would then share big man playing time with current freshman Stas Sivka. That’s a good path, as Kanga won’t have to play early if he isn’t ready, and could redshirt if needed.
This would be a very good first 2025 pickup for Tony Skinn and your George Mason Patriots, especially with the increased scholarship spots. It never hurts to get deep at the big man position.
Let’s hope that we will be welcoming Emmanuel Kanga to Mason Nation very soon.
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