Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Diong’s positive energy fuels UCF
Cheikh Mbacke Diong understands his role on the UCF men’s basketball team. At 6-foot-11, he’s tasked with protecting the paint for the Knights.
“That’s the job coach gave me so I try to do my job every time I step on the court,” Diong said.
Through four games, Diong has done just that, racking up 8 blocks to go along with 17 rebounds.
“Being on the help side and when guys drive the ball, I want my teammates to be comfortable, to feel comfortable that there is someone back there that can go and get that ball for them,” Diong said.
UCF coach Johnny Dawkins used three words to describe Diong: protector, rebounder, and defender.
“He just plays with so much energy and he’s such a positive player,” Dawkins said. “He gives a lot of guys positive energy out there on the court. They feed off of him and I love that about him.”
The Knights (4-0) enter Saturday’s home game vs. Oklahoma having opened a season with four straight wins for just the third time since 2006. Diong has been a big part of UCF’s early success.
“I just try to bring energy every time I play,” Diong said. “This is the game I love. Every time I step on the court, every time we step on the court, we just try to go hard every time.”
Diong transferred to UCF after spending four years at UNLV. There he was a regular starter for three years in Las Vegas. Last season he started all 27 games, averaging nearly 9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game which ranked sixth in the Mountain West Conference.
Diong, a native of Dakar, Senegal, came to the United States in 2016. The move to UCF is a homecoming of sorts for Diong, who attended Florida Prep Academy
in Melbourne when he came overseas.
At his size, one might expect him to move slowly but he’s the opposite.
“He’s very mobile and he likes that,” Dawkins said. “He loves the energy part, the defensive part. It’s not something that we have to turn the screws to try to turn him up to do that. He’s going to do that. He wants to impact the game.”
His impact is felt off the court too. Diong was chosen as a team captain after transferring to UCF over the summer.
“For a player that I’ve never coached before to come in and be inserted into a lineup and in a leadership role as a captain, that says everything you need to know about a kid like that,” Dawkins said. Diong said he’s having fun at UCF.
“You see how we’re playing. We press and we run. We press and we run. That’s the style of play that we want,” Diong said. “Get dunks, get threes, get blocks, and all of that. It’s fun to play with these guys.”
Added Dawkins: “He understands the importance of what you have to do defensively in order to be successful. He goes out there and does it by example every single night.”