Alabama transfer Mouhamed Dioubate reminds Jack Givens of Tennessee's Jahmai Mashack (15) who influenced games in a lot of ways. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Former Kentucky All-American Jack Givens likes what Kentucky coach Mark Pope is doing in the transfer portal and believes that Alabama transfer Mouhamed Dioubate could be a valuable addition with his all-around play.
The 6-7, 215-pound Dioubate averaged 7.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 16 minutes per game while shooting 61.7 percent from the field, 46.2 percent from 3, and 60.9 percent at the foul line last season. He scored in double figures 13 times, including four times combined in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments.
Dioubate was a physical force in three wins over Kentucky last season and was the primary defender when Otega Oweh had his season-long streak of scoring in double figures snapped at Alabama. In Alabama’s win over UK in the SEC Tournament, Dioubate showcased his talent for Pope by going for 13 points, eight rebounds, two blocks, and a steal.
Givens says Dioubate reminds him of Tennessee Jahmai Mashack, a 6-4, 202-pound guard.
“He never gets a play called for him. He comes in knowing my job is to defend whoever you put him on and close that guy down,” Givens said about Mashack on The Leach Report with Tom Leach. “You never have to give him the ball. Tennessee had that guy in Mashack.
“He was the type of guy I always wanted to avoid playing against. He was a guy who was going to come in, and if you score on me, you are going to have to work and deal with me. Dioubate kind of reminds me of Mashack, and if he gives us the same piece that Tennessee got when Mashack came in, that will be an awesome thing.”
Givens likes how Dioubate can stuff the stat sheet every game.
“He’ll give you five to 10 rebounds on any given night, so that’s going to be huge,” Givens said.
Givens has heard the chatter that Pittsburgh point guard transfer Jaland Lowe might not be a great defender or certainly not near the defender that Lamont Butler, this year’s Kentucky point guard, was. However, Givens noted that Koby Brea had trouble defending when last season started.
“I know they are totally different players, but I look at the improvement that Koby made on defense from the start of the season to the finish of the year,” Givens said. “I know the work that Mark and his staff put in on players. Early in the season, you could leave him (Brea) on the floor because he couldn’t stop anybody from scoring. Later in the year, you got to a point where you couldn’t take him off the floor because of the job he was doing, not just offensively but due to the improvements he made defensively.”
Givens admitted he did not know a lot about Lowe yet, but didn’t want to assume he would be a defensive liability.
“Sometimes young teams don’t want you playing any better defense because that means you are going to pick up fouls, and when you pick up fouls, you have to come out of the game,” Givens said. “But there will be a situation here where you have to play defense because I (Pope) have other players to put in if you don’t. That usually changes a guy’s thinking on defense.”
Givens is excited about 6-8 Tulane transfer Kam Williams.
“I am really excited about seeing this guy up close and personal,” the UK Radio Network analyst said. “I am excited when you add a guy who can score points, who can do a lot of different things, like rebound. I think he’ll fit in the SEC very, very well.”
Givens knows Pope got a physical big in Arizona State transfer Jayden Quaintance, who fills a need, especially in SEC play. However, Givens told Tom Leach that while a team can never have too many shooters, he wants one more piece for next season.
“I would like to see a 7-1 shot blocker type to come in who can clean up a lot of stuff around the rim,” Givens said. “I don’t know if Mark will add that, but I would love to see one of those kinds of guys who is long and can run up and down the floor like the kid Duke had. Again, you don’t have to give him a lot of touches, but he can just intimidate in the paint. I would like to see that as well.”
22 Responses
Looks like Pope will need do more shopping as Lewis has withdraw of be a cat. Wonder what change his mind?
I hear he felt like he was recruited over with addition of lowe. Oh well.
Duh, there were too many guards on the team.
Agree. Need some big bruisers to beat the SEC thugs who play football on the BB court.
Larry, Mr Lewis is afraid of competition and not willing to compete for the starting point guard position every day with the best! How is Lewis thinking He becomes better? No chance of playing in the NBA. He’s Kind of like what an old farmer once said “ You know what that little white spot on top of chicken shit is? That’s Chicken Shit too!”
It’s like Jack read my mind. Maybe I read his. Either way the Cats need a 7′ bully center to anchor the middle. Now they need Two guards. As far as Lewis, the Cats don’t need a wimp that is afraid of competition.
One of the major sports sites today has a story about Coach losing out on a great high school player in Lewis and the writer stated “While Lewis connected on just 31% of his threes during EYBL play, he’s a much better shooter than those numbers indicate.” NO numbers Don’t Lie! Liars try to make numbers better! If the kid and he is a high school kid, can’t shoot better then that we didn’t miss out on anything but maybe a “Kid” that may need to be babied somewhere else.
The Freshmen we want are like the ones we have that want to be made into Men on the basketball court.
Mr Lewis don’t let the door hit You where the Good Lord Split Yeah!!
Lewis’s decision is very troubling to say the least but obviously he really wasn’t mentally prepared to accept the challenge of wearing the uniform. His departure is a slap in the face for the BBN, coaching staff, and team members. Am wondering if Pope was really blindsided on this. Someone has gotten in his head on this but if you didn’t commit for the right reasons the GTHOOH.
We actually need 2 more bigs who can defend, rebound., and can go up for alley oops at the basket. Garrison is heading to the portal fearing he will come off the bench again here.
I hear he’s not …duh duh.. are you always a smart ass or just play one on tv?
I saw the Cats are out of contention for the Robert Morris kid. At 6’9" 215lbs. I think he was thin anyway. I think Garrison will stay, but who knows what a guy is thinking. Is there not another guy comparable to Amari in the portal? I mean out of 1700 portal players is there not one big guy Pope could take for five fouls if nothing else?
If Garrison were really staying would he have deleted all his social data on his platform? He did show flashes past season but seemed disengaged a lot of times also. He can be as good as he wants to be but not sure right fit for UK.
The Gray kid from Missouri is 7”0", 260.
Pretty sure Garrison is coming back
Oh, now you’re just pretty sure. Which one is it smartass?
You lost me ..But alot of what you spew doesn’t make sense.
I’m not worried about Lewis. A backup point guard is a dime a dozen and there is more point guards than any other position. We can actually upgrade the point guard position from the transfer portal. I would go after the best defender in the portal at the point. You already have a point in Lowe who can get buckets. Perry is also much better offensively then defensively. So I’d go after a bull dog point or a big like Jack said that is 7’1" and is outstanding on defense and maybe raw on offense. Being that tall you can just dunk the ball if you get close to the rim. I do hope everyone doesn’t scare Garrison away from Kentucky. He hasn’t said anything about transferring but its like the goons at KSR are pushing him out the door. I don’t understand it. He was just a sophomore last year in a new system. He will hit his stride this year. Lewis did surprise me by decomitting but at this point he was the only guy that we have that I would make the trade in the transfer portal and go after someone with a little more experience.
Why even recruit a 31% 3-point shooting guard? A waste.
UK needs to develop plays for sharp shooting 3-point shooters (Perry & Noah – & should have done it for Brea & Krissa last season). Pitino had an offense that moved without the ball and set up bigs to provide a screen for Travis Ford to get a quick glimpse at the bucket without a hand in his face.
UK players stopped moving without the ball as the season progressed and SOME players forgot how to pass, becoming their old former selfish players (before Pope taught them how to play TEAM ball).
Facts are facts. The losses – season & post-season – were the poorest A:TO ratio games played. It only takes 1 to upset the chemistry of a TEAM by not sharing the ball.
Go back and look at the early season before some players felt they were a lock for a lot of minutes. They ALL shared the ball in those early season wins.
I’m a Pope fan, but if he does not use the bench to throttle selfish players, there won’t be any lessons learned in sharing the ball.
The S-16 should have been a stepping stone to higher ground, but the A:TO ratio was not good so the Cats lost.
You can beat the Perry-Noah horse all you want, but if Ky is to be a contender they will play mostly mop-up time. Especially Perry. By the way, Perry shot 32.1% from three last year and Noah shot 33.3% and they only shot Wide-Open 3’s.
You may be right Jimmy, both put up disappointing numbers last year. Noah has the better chance of having a better sophomore year, but it will be a limited reserve role again. He will be a 4 year player who will get better each year. Perry’s issue is defense and I am not sure that he has the "want to" and physicality to play it in the SEC.
It looks like UT has moved ahead in the Nate Ament sweepstakes..that would be shocking if they got him.
Ament wants guaranteed starter’s minutes and a big NIL deal. Tennessee has a big need and a bigger NIL budget. If not UT, it will be Duke.