Sananda Fru Checks a Lot of Boxes for Marquette
The Louisville transfer brings international experience and elite finishing to the Golden Eagles.
Marquette dipped into the transfer portal for the first time in five years to land a center in Sananda Fru who looks like an ideal fit.
Truth be told, Shaka Smart’s club — a program that prides itself on toughness — felt a little too soft in the middle since the departure of Oso Ighodaro in 2024. In Fru, they are getting size (6’11, 250), experience (four seasons playing for Basketball Löwen Braunschweig in Germany and another in the ACC at Louisville), and a great pairing with rising sophomore point guard Nigel James Jr.
“He brings to us the two most important basketball attributes that we were looking for in that spot, which is rebounding and finishing around the basket,” Smart told the local press this spring. “We felt like those two were areas we really had to get better.”
Fru was one of the most efficient scorers in the country last season — a year in which he started 29 of the 35 games he appeared in. He started the first 29 games before Louisville shifted him to a reserve role late in the season, a move Pat Kelsey later said was not a reflection of Fru's performance or attitude.
Fru averaged 9.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, but the number that jumps off the screen is his 75.3% field goal percentage.
There’s potential for Fru and James to be a dominant screen-and-roll pairing. Fru ranked in the 86th percentile in pick-and-roll finishing last year, was in the 91st off cuts, and 79th on put-backs.
If that partnership develops as expected, Fru could help elevate James from Big East Freshman of the Year to a legitimate Player of the Year candidate.
James will benefit from having a mobile big with great hands, but also thanks to Fru’s impressive screening ability as well as his aptitude with the ball in his hands. Fru can handle it, set up Louisville’s guards off hand-offs last year, and has some passing acumen as well.
“We have more frontcourt playmaking than we’ve had since Oso left,” Smart said. “Sunny is very unselfish — to a fault. I’m going to have to fight with him in some games to get 8-10 field goal attempts because he likes to pass it. He’s a great screener, very, very unselfish, but we need him to score as well.”
While Fru will occasionally step beyond the 3-point arc (4-for-8 from three last season), virtually all of his offensive work will come in one of three ways: rolling to the basket, cutting, and crashing the offensive glass, where he is particularly skilled at tipping in shots around the rim. His 14.9% Rebound Percentage ranked in the 97th percentile nationally.
His club in Germany has produced NBA players such as Dennis Schröder and Daniel Theis, and Fru will bring some of that European style of play to Marquette.
Fru is a true modern-day big man. The ball doesn’t stick in his hands. When he’s not tipping in offensive rebounds, he’s seemingly kicking it out as soon as he grabs it. He posted up just 12 times all of last season at Louisville.
Fru scored 7.1 points per game in the paint, and defensively he showed the ability to guard in space (iso scorers shot just 25% against him last year — 0.525 points per possession), while post scorers were more effective (52.9% shooting, 0.932 points per possession).
A Look at the Film
As noted above, Fru is a terrific finisher when rolling to the bucket, with great hands and mobility. On the offensive glass, he has a softer touch on tip-ins than most college bigs. He also gets up the floor well in transition and slips screens to get himself easy dunks inside.
There’s also some ability as a creator here as well. Fru had over 40 assists at Louisville, where he certainly benefited from playing alongside a pair of NBA draft picks in Ryan Conwell and Mikel Brown Jr., as well as a sniper in Isaac McKneely (96 threes on 39.5% shooting). He gets shooters good looks off hands-offs and is comfortable with the ball in his hands at the top of the key:
The Final Word
The Big East is set to look a lot different in the middle next year with Fru at Marquette, a potential lottery pick in Luigi Suigo at Villanova, Xavier’s addition of LSU transfer Michael Nwoko, Oswin Erhunmwunse jumping from Providence to Creighton, Najai Hines taking over in Storrs, Magoon Gwath headlining DePaul’s portal class, Arrinten Page at PC, and so on.
Fru figures to be one of the top three centers in the conference next year — a big man with the upside to flip Marquette from subpar at center to a team whose big man is a strength. Physicality and playmaking should return to Milwaukee next season, and the Golden Eagles have the makings of an NCAA Tournament team, thanks in large part to Fru’s presence in the paint.
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