(FIBA Photo)
Ousmane N’Diaye is a 7-footer from Senegal who has played in Italy, Germany and Spain but will play for Kentucky coach Mark Pope this season. He’s an unknown commodity to most UK fans but has impressed teammates so far in summer workouts.
“He can shoot the ball and his length really surprised me,” said freshman point guard Mason Williams.
Williams said he had not watched any highlights of N’Diaye before he got to Kentucky earlier this month
“I was literally kind of scared if he could speak English or not. He’s really fluent in English. He’s really good to be around,” Williams said.
The freshman called N’Diaye a “winner” because of the variety of skills he has.
“He has surprised me with just how he cares, how unselfish he is,” Williams said. “When he first got here, I went to dinner with him and he said he was kind of scared … not scared but he didn’t know if he was gonna like the U.S. or not.
“I told him it’s all about you. It’s going to be how you play, how you are going to work, and that’s going to play in your favor. It’s not how you like Lexington, if you like the coaches, if you like the programming, if you like playing at Kentucky, if you like where you stay. I told him if you got a problem, if you ever want to just hang out, or just be Oose, call me.”
5 Responses
Mason Williams could be a terrific glue guy for several seasons.
I am with you OldFan
The player that has surprised me the most is Mason Williams. He's very mature for being a freshman. If he leads the team on the court like he does off the court he's going to be special. I can see him having a backup role this year and then next year being the starting point guard. I think Zoom, Milan, and Moreno could be in there last year or college.
It's possible we may see this group play long before season starts. According to Pope they may be able play against competition sometime this summer. He couldn't give details until he hears from NCAA.
know they are scrimmaging La Familia next week