"We take pride in defense": Mo Dioubate sees grit, not gaps, on Kentucky's roster

Kentucky fans are well aware of Mo Dioubate‘s skills on defense. Last season, Dioubate held Otega Oweh to just two points on 1-9 shooting in Alabama’s win over Kentucky in Tuscaloosa, which snapped Oweh’s 26-game streak of scoring in double digits. Now a Wildcat, Dioubate is excited to terrorize opponents in Kentucky blue — a childhood dream — especially knowing who he’ll be playing alongside.

“Man, I think it’s probably going to be one of the best defensive teams Kentucky has seen in a while,” Dioubate told reporters on Monday. “We’ve got guys like [Jayden Quaintance], who hasn’t even played yet. Like, just knowing what he could do, and he’s not even in practice yet, like, that’s scary. Guys like me, Otega [Oweh], Denzel [Aberdeen], we take pride in defense, so I feel like that’s something that the team needs. And I feel like it’s going to be a real good year defensively for us. I don’t think that’s going to be one of the liabilities we have.”

That was a liability on last year’s team, which is why Dioubate is such a welcome addition. He is exactly the kind of physical and athletic defender the Cats lacked last season, the first to dive on the floor after a ball and do the dirty work on the boards. Alabama swept all three games vs. Kentucky last season by increasingly larger margins; Dioubate admitted that the Cats’ lack of physicality was a big part of the scouting report and that the Crimson Tide relished exploiting it.

“Going into the game, we had a scout for every team we played. Going into this game, I knew that was something that they lacked a little bit. So once we’d seen that [on film], we just apply the pressure to them every time we can. And I’m happy that I’m able to play with Kentucky this year and bring it to this team.”

In recent weeks, all four of Kentucky’s returning players have talked about how happy they are to be playing with Dioubate and not against him. Add Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen to that bunch. Florida beat Alabama twice last season, but Aberdeen said Dioubate also gave the Gators problems.

“Mo’s going to be a great player for this team. He always goes hard each and every possession and practice, and stuff like that. Obviously, I played him last year at Bama. He was going hard. He was playing defense hard. He was crashing the boards hard, and he’s going to do exactly what he did there here. But even better, he’s a great player, great person to have, great friend to have, and each and every day he’s going to push you because he doesn’t back down from nobody, and he’s a strong guy, like you said.”

Aberdeen also got a firsthand look at Jayden Quaintance when Florida played Arizona State in the Holiday Hoopsgiving. Quaintance had 14 points, 8 rebounds, four steals, two assists, and a pair of blocks, one against Aberdeen.

“This team can be really good, man,” Aberdeen said on Monday, echoing Dioubate’s remarks. “We’ve got the size, we’ve got the length, we’ve got the athleticism to be one of the best defensive teams in the nation. Guys like Jayden [Quaintance], like you said, Mo [Dioubate], and all of them, I played those past guys. Jayden definitely blocked me last year. And especially Mo, he’s a great defender, especially rebounding. So I think we will be very good on the defense side.”

Aberdeen knows what it takes to win a title; the focus on defense and the versatility in the frontcourt are just a few reasons why he thinks Kentucky can do it.

“I see a lot of similarities,” Aberdeen said of last year’s Florida team and this year’s Kentucky team. “Bigs love to run there. And just as much as here, our bigs like to run, they play defense, and they play at a fast pace. So I think the bigs that we got here are just as good or even better. I love these guys. I’ve been playing with them. It hasn’t been long, but it’s been great playing with these guys so far. So I think our team’s got a real shot at winning number nine this year. And I think we’ll be ready. We’ll shock a lot of people this year.”

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Dioubate honed his skills in NYC pickup games

Last season at Alabama, Dioubate averaged 7.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 16.0 minutes per game coming off the bench. Now at Kentucky, he is looking forward to developing his game under Mark Pope, especially on the offensive end. He shot 61.7% from the floor last year and 46.2% from three-point land, but that latter figure was on just 26 attempts.

“I think the best part of my game was rebounding, playing defense, and bringing the energy to the team,” Dioubate said of his time in Tuscaloosa. “And last year, I think I could have, with more minutes and stuff, obviously, I think I could have been a better shooter, I would say, with the confidence, with the minutes that came, and my decision making, being a better playmaker and stuff. I feel like I can do that better this year.”

Year one of the Pope era showed us that every player, from positions one through five, can bring the ball up the floor. Dioubate is excited to show off his versatility.

“Coach Pope, he called me a point forward. He knows what I’m able to do. He has confidence in me. He sees I could be a point guard at times, or I could be a forward, on offense or defense. And I feel like that’s what he really loves about me, the versatility that I could bring on the floor. You know, he loves a dog, so I think he’s really looking forward to that.”

Dioubate earned his reputation as a dog on the streets of New York. Growing up in Queens, he quickly learned that to stay on the court, he had to be tough.

“It’s something that was just instilled in me since I was a kid, honestly. Like just playing outside every day, like, in New York City, you play one-on-one a lot. We played three-on-three. You don’t want to be that guy to get exposed every time. So I was playing with older guys since I was younger, and they was they were all really physical. They were all bigger than me and stuff. So it just made me want to play harder as a kid. My older brother, he played very physical as well. Just my environment, it just made me that way.”