Mo Dioubate reveals biggest style of play change at Kentucky from Alabama

Mo Dioubate transferred from Alabama to Kentucky this offseason, and it hasn’t taken long for the standout forward to notice differences between the two programs. Last week, Dioubate revealed the biggest difference in the styles of play between Alabama and Kentucky.

“Just the spacing here,” Dioubate said. “Coach Pope, he emphasizes spacing a lot. Obviously wedging to go get rebounds. That’s something I’ve already been doing, but here, he emphasizes it. Like every time a shot goes up, wedge. Boxing out.

“He’s been emphasizing those little things more than anything. You know, the little things, the tangibles. He’s trying to get us to worry about that more and let the offense take care of itself.”

Dioubate is no stranger to spacing, which was key to Alabama having the No. 1 offense in the country last season. Evidently, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope emphasizes spacing even more than Alabama’s Nate Oats.

Judging from Kentucky’s offense, it’s not a complete surprise. The Wildcats utilize an endless cycle of movement on offense that often leads to open shots or sneaky backdoors.

This piece of Kentucky’s offense is why Pope places such a focus on players like Dioubate, who aren’t traditionally playmakers, being able to facilitate. Pope constantly places his front-court pieces at the top of the key or on the perimeter to draw out opposing bigs.

While Dioubate isn’t necessarily a big man, he’ll still play this role occasionally in the upcoming season. Dioubate averaged 7.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game for Alabama last season.

He shot 61.7% from the field and 46.2% from beyond the arc. However, it’s worth noting that Dioubate only took 26 attempts from deep last season. In Mark Pope’s offensive system, Mo Dioubate plans to pump up those numbers in the upcoming season.

“Coach Pope wants to play fast. He wants to get a lot of 3’s up as well,” Dioubate told BBN Tonight’s Maggie Davis. “He told me not to pass up any open 3’s. Any open 3’s that I have, do not pass it on.

“… I look forward to doing that here, just improving my game. I feel like that’s something that I always wanted to do is to get my shooting volume higher. Coach Pope is giving me an opportunity to do that… I just gotta keep working and give him the trust for me to keep doing that every game. That’s going to bring my game to a different level that nobody’s seen so far.”