SHAYOK MARCHES SOUTH TO PLAY WITH THE BEST
Ottawa hoops star will hit the court against UNC Wilmington in NCAA’s big tournament
March Madness? For Marial Shayok, what was once a dream is very real.
When Shayok was seven years old, he started playing basketball, sometimes in Ottawa’s playgrounds, sometimes at the YMCA.
Basketball kind of ran in the family. Sisters Akuluel, Lau and Yar and brother Shayok played too. Their father Makur played college basketball years ago, then got paid to play overseas.
Now Shayok, the youngest, is set to play in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, which begins in earnest Thursday. His Virginia Cavaliers open against the UNC Wilmington Seahawks in Orlando, Fla. The matchup is a clash in styles: While highflying UNCW is 10th in the U.S. in offence, Virginia, with its 312th offence, leads in defence.
“Being in this the past two years — this being my third time — I’m more comfortable going in. I’m not as nervous as I was as a freshman,” the 21-year-old guard said. “I’m blessed to be here, to get to experience March Madness. I watched it on TV like a lot of people do. I’m still excited, for sure.”
As for Thursday’s matchup, Shayok said: “They seem like a really fast team that can score a lot of points. We just have to stick to what we know, play defence as best as we can. We’re a very deep team. All year, we’ve had so many different rotations, so many different players stepping up. We just have to stay together, play together and be ready to step up. Defence is our identity — we just have to keep that going.”
As the Cavaliers’ sixth man, Shayok has averaged 8.6 points per game this season. His aggressive style and defence will be essential if Virginia is going to have success.
“You have to be confident in this tournament or you’ll be a step behind,” he said. “You have to believe in yourselves, believe you can compete with anybody, take it a game at a time and see how it works out.”
For Shayok and his teammates, they know all too well about the Cinderella stories March Madness brings. That means there’s no time to take the foot off the gas.
“You can’t really think ahead. You can’t think ahead of the next team you’re playing,” Shayok said. “If you start looking too far ahead, if you’re not focused on who you’re playing, you’ll get beat.”
After fine-tuning his talent at Hawthorne Public School and St. Patrick High School in Ottawa, he headed to the U.S. to attend New Jersey’s Blair Academy.
“I’ve put in a lot of work since I was a kid living in Ottawa,” Shayok said. “For me, it became a purpose to get here to the States and play in March Madness. It really was a dream come true.”
He was home for two days in December before heading back south on Christmas Day, and Shayok is excited to have his family in Orlando to see him play.
“They helped me get to where I am today,” he said. “It’s great to have them here to support me.”
Shayok has become what so many younger Ottawa kids want to become. He’s the model of what can happen with hard work and perseverance.
“Marial is the bar,” longtime St. Patrick coach Matt Koeslag told Postmedia’s Don Brennan a year ago. “To see someone from the local neighbourhood who went to our school, who’s been up through our program, achieve those things definitely opens their eyes as to the realistic possibilities that are out there for them if they make the commitment. He comes back in the spring each year and works out in the gym with us, so they get to see first-hand the kind of effort and the kind of work ethic it takes to realize what he’s done.”