Kentucky players happy to have Mo Dioubate on their side: "I didn't like playing against him."

Mo Dioubate made life difficult for Kentucky last season. A sophomore at Alabama, the 6-foot-7 forward helped lead the Crimson Tide to a trio of victories over the Wildcats, including one that knocked UK out of the SEC Tournament.

Dioubate was a thorn in Mark Pope‘s side during all three outings. He went for eight points, eight rebounds, and three assists in 18 minutes during game one at Rupp Arena. A month later at home, the New York native dropped in four points and five rebounds in 18 minutes. To round out the matchups, he went for 13 points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes as Alabama dominated Kentucky in the SEC Tournament.

“He punished us,” Pope said of Dioubate earlier this offseason. “I don’t like to say it, but, man, he punished us three straight games this season; it was not a happy time for us.”

But Pope isn’t the only one excited to have Dioubate on his side of the floor in 2025-26 — his new teammates are equally as happy they don’t have to see him again as the opposition.

“It’s gonna be lovely,” Senior guard Otega Oweh said Tuesday about teaming up with Dioubate. “I know what he brings, and I didn’t like playing against him, if I’m being honest. I know he’s gonna have that same effect on other people on other teams. It’s gonna be great. And he’s a great guy too.”

Mark Pope juiced up his roster for next season by bringing in one of the most versatile defenders in the country.

6-foot-7 Alabama transfer Mo Dioubate adds a layer to Kentucky's defense and rebounding that was missing in 2024-25.

➡️ https://t.co/TTfbSF1yep pic.twitter.com/e7RGLqJI3L

— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) May 7, 2025

If anyone from last season’s Kentucky team remembers how tough it was to play against Dioubate and Alabama, it was Oweh. Going into the second meeting with the Tide, he was riding a double-digit scoring streak that reached 26 games.

Alabama held Oweh to just two points on 1-9 shooting in round two. He then finished with only eight points (1-6 FG) in the postseason matchup. Of his three single-digit scoring outings all season, two came against Dioubate and Co.

“He plays defense like me, but he’s a four/five and he’s big and he can move his feet,” Oweh added. “It don’t matter who he’s guarding. He could guard a 5-8 guard, a 6-10 big, it don’t matter. He’s gonna go out there and just be a dog.”

Dioubate expects to bring the physicality and athleticism that were sorely missing from Pope’s first Kentucky team. What they might sacrifice in outside shooting, they’ll make up for on the boards and defense. Dioubate averaged 7.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 1.6 stocks (steals and blocks combined) in just 16 minutes per outing for Alabama last season. He shot 61.7 percent from the field and went 12-26 from deep.

“Physicality, great defender, fast, mobile, but I say really, just his physicality is gonna help this team out,” Junio center Brandon Garrison said of his new teammate Tuesday. “Everybody seen that, that’s a part of this game. But we talked about a couple games, you know, because they beat us and stuff. So we talk about that, just playing around. I feel like me and him are gonna connect real well. We’ve already been chopping up a lot, we’ve been on the game a lot, talking outside of the facility.”

You know that they say: If you can’t beat them, recruit them.

Join KSR Plus! With a KSR Plus membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.