Moustapha Thiam needs a nap.
It’s a Friday in mid-January and the 7-foot-2 UCF center has just wrapped up a mid-afternoon media interview and he’s looking to head back home for some rest. More than 12 hours later, Thiam will be on the court, helping the Knights blow past visiting TCU, 85-58.
Life in the Big 12 vastly differs from high school, where Thiam would have been this season if he had not reclassified. There, his biggest concern was preparing for a dance or the senior prom. Instead, Thiam, 18, is focused on competing against Kansas All-American Hunter Dickinson and Houston’s J’Wan Roberts.
Thiam has made a smooth transition into the college game to his credit.
“He is growing right in front of our eyes with his skill set, physical strength and overall physical stature,” said coach Johnny Dawkins.
Thiam started 18 of 20 games entering Saturday’s matchup with BYU, averaging 9.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in 25 minutes per game. He’s scored double digits nine times, including a season-high 18 points against Houston on Jan. 18.
While it has been an adjustment, nobody understands what Thiam is going through better than Mamadou N’Diaye. This is N’Diaye’s fourth season as an assistant coach with Dawkins. Like his young protégé Thiam, N’Diaye is a Senegal native.
At 7-0, N’Diaye is an imposing figure standing next to Thiam, but the former Auburn and NBA center helped make the transition easier.
N’Diaye’s fascination with basketball began after a court was built in his neighborhood in Dakar when he was 18.
“Without that outside court, I most likely wouldn’t have started playing basketball,” he said.
His love of the game grew as he and his friends stayed up late to watch Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets win back-to-back NBA Championships in 1994-95, along with videos of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
“I told a friend that dunking was easy, though I’d never done it,” he recalled. “At night, I secretly practiced. I was tall enough but needed to train my body to jump. After about a month of practice, I was dunking as I wanted.”
N’Diaye would earn a student visa and enroll at Maine Central Institute, a preparatory school in Pittsfield, before attending Auburn and playing for then-coach Cliff Ellis (1996-2000).
He would become the first Senegalese player to get drafted into the NBA when the Denver Nuggets selected him in the first round.
His sister, Silma, also would follow suit, attending Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., before enrolling at Florida Atlantic University, where she played basketball for the Owls (2003-07). His other younger sister, Fatou Kine, didn’t go to school in the U.S., but she did play basketball in Europe and had a stint with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
Their brother, Ibrahima, opened the Flyingstar Academy in their neighborhood in Dakar.
“In Senegal, you don’t have to go to school. You can just drop off [the map]. No child services are coming after you, telling you to go to school,” said N’Diaye. “It’s for the younger generation to stay off the streets, encourage them to stay in school, learn a trade and get into sports.
“Among that group, we try to find someone who has a chance to get into the U.S., just like my sister and I, who had an opportunity to come to the U.S.”
The academy’s initiative is to secure high and preparatory school scholarships for the most deserving boys and girls. This initiative allows them to pursue higher education and excel in sports.
Others who have participated in the program were former UCF basketball standouts Tacko Fall and Fifi Ndour, Anne Francoise Diouf (Georgia Tech), Abdoulaye Gueye (Georgia Tech) and Sidy Djitte (Clemson).
The academy is where Thiam would eventually learn the ins and outs of the game from Ibrahima N’Diaye.
“He just let me play free. There were no limits,” said Thiam.
It’s also where he was first introduced to Mamadou N’Diaye, now an assistant coach at UCF.
“He’s the first Senegalese player to be drafted, and with that comes a lot of credibility in his country from people who know him and young people who are growing up there,” said Dawkins. “What better person to do that under than someone who’s already done it from your country?”
Thiam would make his way to DME Academy in Daytona Beach.
N’Diaye said the players who generally have the earliest success on the court are the big men: centers or taller forwards because the position doesn’t require as much technique, unlike guards and small forwards.
“Moustapha is a quick learner,” said N’Diaye, who coaches the Knights’ big men. “He gained weight, which is a big adjustment. All of us Senegalese are usually skinny. When I arrived, I was 187 pounds. I gained 35 pounds in my first year. Then, at Auburn, I gained 15 pounds yearly until I reached 255.”
Thiam arrived in the U.S. weighing around 170 pounds, but it wasn’t long before he began gaining weight. This past summer, he was up to 235 when he enrolled at UCF.
“He had a high IQ understanding of the game. It was just the physicality,” said N’Diaye. “He’s got a long way to go, but he has made considerable strides in the physicality, the speed and stamina. He’s been doing a great job.”
“He’s a more active player on both sides of the basketball,” added Dawkins. “He makes more plays. He’s involved with more plays because of his activity. He will continue to get stronger and adjust and how to guard and play in the Big 12. That will happen with experience.”
While the transition has been relatively smooth for Thiam, not having his family around him is still challenging.
“It was tough when I first arrived because I was just 16,” said Thiam. “Now I’m 18, I’m used to it and fine. I’m talking to them every day before I go to bed.”
His teammates, meanwhile, have fully embraced their new big man.
After Thiam scored 16 points and had 5 blocks in a win against TCU, Keyshawn Hall ensured his teammate got the proper credit.
“He’s one of the best shot blockers in the country.”
Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com
Up next …
UCF vs. Cincinnati
When: 7, Wednesday, Addition Financial Arena
TV: CBS Sports Network