Ball in the family
Pirates’ Davis, Peacocks’ Keith balance hoops and parenthood
It’s Love & Basketball, the sequel.
This time, with a child mixed in.
Meet Dre Davis and Mikia Keith, the couple navigating college basketball while raising a baby girl. If you think managing school and Division I sports is tough, imagine adding parenthood to the mix.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I try to take it from that mindset, and find a way to get it done,” Davis, Seton Hall’s star wing, said ahead of the fourthseeded Pirates’ Big East Tournament quarterfinal against No. 5 St. John’s on Thursday. “It’s been an unbelievable and blessed journey. I’m super happy to be a father and it’s been an added motivation.”
The Indianapolis natives have made it seem easy. Davis is enjoying the best season of his four-year college career, averaging career highs of 14.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 32.1 minutes for surprising Seton Hall. Keith closed out a strong career at SIU Edwardsville and then Saint Peter’s, which saw its season end in the MAAC Tournament on Tuesday.
Their daughter, 1-year-old Malia, has had a front-row seat for it all, attending both of her parents’ games. When Davis, 22, has a game and Keith doesn’t, she brings Malia to the arena. When both are in action, Malia goes to Saint Peter’s and, if their parents aren’t around, a team manager takes care of her.
“Crazy is the only way I could put it,” Keith said. “A lot of time management, balancing schedules, running to Seton Hall right after I practice, Dre dropping off Malia at Saint Peter’s right before he has to practice.
“When we look back, it’s going to be something really miraculous, to say, ‘Man we really did that.’ The No. 1 thing for us is we really want to make Malia proud and be an example that you can do anything you put your mind to.”
The two knew each other growing up in Indianapolis, but didn’t get together until college, when Davis was at Louisville and Keith was at SIU Edwardsville. This, however, wasn’t planned. Keith found out she was pregnant late in November 2021, the day after she scored 17 points in a big win over Butler. She had no idea what she wanted to do.
Keith called Davis, who was in the Bahamas for a tournament. He was psyched.
“I was more so the one who was terrified,” she recalled. “He was the one who was all in, like, ‘Yes, I’m going to be a dad, let’s do it.’ ”
Once Keith, 24, found out she could finish out the season without any health risks for Malia, the couple dove headfirst into parenthood. She spent last year with Davis in New Jersey, taking a year off from school. Then, she transferred to Saint Peter’s, using her last year of eligibility.
It has all been made possible by a large support system involving both of their parents, grandparents and the two teams’ coaching staffs. Davis’ parents, Carlonda and D’Andre, moved into the same Harrison, N.J., apartment building as the couple to help. Her parents, NiCole and Floyd, have spent a lot of time in New Jersey as well. Even Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway has babysat. His youngest son, Tyson, and Malia have become friends.
“It’s literally been a village,” Davis said. “It’s challenging, but it’s doable. We’ve been getting it done. There’s been unbelievable support from everybody in our circles.
Without that, we wouldn’t be in this position.”
When they didn’t have any help, a typical day had Keith waking up at 5 a.m. and bringing Malia to morning practice, where she sets her daughter up courtside with toys, snacks and an iPad in a crib. She has her until Davis comes home at roughly 6 p.m. after classes and practice. An invested father, he takes over from there, enabling his girlfriend to catch up on her homework.
“You can tell the person that he is on the floor, just he’s tough. That’s how he is in life. He’s tough,” said Keith, who also has a 30-hours-a-week job as a project manager for the American College of Sports Medicine she is able to do virtually. “It’s not easy to be a dad, and to be such a great dad the way he is.
He’s so involved in her life. When he’s home, he knows how to do her hair. He does bath time with her every single night, and he’s such a supportive partner as well.” For now, the future is uncertain for the family. Davis has another year of eligibility he can use or the senior can begin a professional career. Keith, who has an undergraduate degree in exercise science and is working toward her MBA at Saint Peter’s, wants to work in basketball. But they are focused on the present.
Keith will have their daughter in attendance at this week’s Big East Tournament, and then the NCAA Tournament, as long as Seton Hall gets selected as expected. Neither has been a part of March Madness before.
“It would be beautiful. I might cry, because he’s worked so hard, he was so close his freshman year,” Keith said. “I think it would be great for Malia to be able to look back, and just be able to know she was a part of all these great things.” Even when the ball stops bouncing for both of them, it’s unlikely basketball will stop for the family. There is a baby hoop in their apartment Malia likes to shoot on it, using either hand. “It’s in her blood,” Davis said.