Coulibaly: Better days are coming
Mali native learns from bumpy start
Even as he was surrounded by thousands of boisterous fans and watched by tens of thousands of people across the country on television, there were moments in Pitt’s 2019-20 season in which Abdoul Karim Coulibaly felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness.
He was used to emotional turmoil. He moved to the United States from his native Mali when he was 14, hoping to advance his basketball dreams while also being tasked with learning a new language and adapting to a new culture. But even as he endured those hardships, basketball success that came with it, the kind that allowed the 6foot-8 forward to represent his country internationally and earn a scholarship to an ACC program.
In his first year of college basketball, the court was no longer his sanctuary. In seven of the Panthers’ 33 games, Coulibaly didn’t play at all. In seven others, he played no more than four minutes.
From the first time he played basketball, he always had been able to make an impact, routinely starting games, logging heavy minutes and generally excelling. Not having that took a toll on Coulibaly’s psyche.
“I was down on myself,” he said. “I was feeling lonely. I’m not going to lie. I was not accepting sitting on the bench.
“Sometimes, you play two minutes. Sometimes, you don’t play at all. It got to me.”
As Coulibaly sees it, the worst might very well be behind him. At the very least, he’s determined to make sure that’s the case.
Coulibaly finished last season with modest numbers, averaging 2.7 points and 1.7 rebounds in 9.4 minutes per game, all of which ranked him eighth on the team. He had managed to crack Pitt’s rotation, but his contributions were spotty playing behind older teammates such as Terrell Brown and Eric Hamilton. Those numbers were the product of a time of doubt.
“I didn’t get better last year,” Coulibaly said. “I’m not going to lie. I’m going to keep doing my best to push myself. Next season, I’m going to keep working hard. Last season, I’m not going to lie, I was down. I was not doing anything. After a practice, I was not doing anything else. I was down. Why am I going to work if I don’t play? That was what I was thinking.
“That was little kid stuff. Because I’m young, I was thinking about that. But you don’t work for nobody; you work for yourself.”
Now, more than two months removed from the end of the season, Coulibaly realizes that mindset was a flawed and ultimately detrimental one.
The way the season ended provided some comfort and hope that better days are ahead. In his final eight games, he averaged 4.9 points per contest and averaged 11.3 minutes per outing. In four of those eight games, he played at least 14 minutes, which included two matchups in which he scored a career-high 10 points.
In many ways, Coulibaly was more impressive in person than he was on a stat sheet.
Underwhelming as some of his numbers were, he looked like a naturally gifted player in many instances on the court. There was a calmness to his game and a fluidity to his post moves that’s not often seen with developing, young big men.
There are a number of areas in which he intends to improve his game. His rebounding numbers were low for a player his size, and he has room to grow as a shooter, as he finished last season making only 48% of his free throws and 51.2% of his shots at the rim.
“Last year, the game I played, it wasn’t me,” Coulibaly said. “It was somebody else.”
To get better, Coulibaly understands he’ll have to put in more work than he did last season, a challenge he is embracing in the offseason as he spends time living with a friend in Cincinnati.
“Next year, I’m going to the gym a lot so I can get better,” he said. “Whether I play or not, I’m still going to be a good teammate. I’m still going to support my team no matter what. I’m still going to be a part of the family. I’m still going to give my best.”
For Coulibaly, improvement could come simply with increased comfort. Though his English has improved greatly in his time in the United States, and even in his one season at Pitt, it’s not his native language (he grew up speaking Bambara). Its impact was seen on the court, as Coulibaly said he struggled at times with plays and terminology. Those problems were exacerbated by a move from power forward to center on a team that was still lacking productive size.
That language barrier was mentioned occasionally coach Jeff Capel, who would add there was another contrast when it came to his freshman big man: He performed much better in games than he did practices. There was, for Coulibaly, a sharp split between the two that he will try to lessen.
“Practice is like studying for me,” he said. “Games are your worth test. Practices are just you and your teammates. Games, there are other people there. You have to show your worth and what you’ve got. You have to make yourself proud and make them — your family and friends and stuff like that — be proud of you. That’s my difference.”
The adjustments to college basketball that Coulibaly experienced didn’t end there. He found there to be an intensity to the game, part of which came from the excitement of the crowds, especially at places like Duke. Because of that, he saw the mental and physical toughness that was required to excel. After the season, Coulibaly said he spoke with Capel and got encouraging feedback, believing that if he continues to improve that he can see the court more than he did as a freshman.
“I don’t blame anybody,” Coulibaly said. “If you blame anybody, you have to blame yourself.”
Whatever progress Coulibaly makes will be coupled with increased competition for playing time. Though Hamilton will be gone, Brown will be a senior and the Panthers will have two freshmen 6-9 or taller, one of whom, John Hugley, is a top-100 recruit. That will be among the things pushing Coulibaly as he trains over the next several months. With a year of college experience and understanding his mistakes from that time, he will look to build on whatever feeling of promise he created last season. And he’ll do so while being guided by what has motivated him from the moment he got to the United States.
“Every time I think of back home and I think about my family, it gives me more energy,” Coulibaly said. “It gives me heart to fight, to battle, to give everything I have. It helped me out a lot. Every time I think about back home, I keep working hard and pushing myself.”