Ibrahima Diallo (Photo by Aidan Bostick)
By Matt Weiner (@MattWeiner20) – MBB Beat Reporter
The Spartans are up against all odds to come out victorious at the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas. With only one conference win, they come in as the last seed and are slated to play Fresno State, who has beaten them twice by a total of 50 points.
The difference between the previous losses and the upcoming matchup is that SJSU will have seven-foot center Ibrahima Diallo on the court.
After hurting his knee in December, Diallo returned to the court against New Mexico on Feb. 20 and went for 14 points and five rebounds during the Spartans’ lone conference win of the season.
“We didn’t have him for those two games and it hurt us,” said SJSU head coach Tim Miles.
Diallo’s absence was evident during the mass destruction Fresno State’s Orlando Robinson was creating on the court. Robinson averaged 24.5 points and 8.5 rebounds during each game and was creating an impenetrable wall on defense.
Coach Miles had high praise for Robinson, calling him a “first round draft pick.”
“He makes Fresno an extraordinary team,” Miles said.
In four games since returning, Diallo has averaged 9.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and has accumulated six total blocks.
With palm tree branches for arms, Diallo can stack up physically with Robinson and is able to add difficulty to his life that wasn’t there during the other two matchups.
On top of that, he’s also able to get looks going for SJSU star-forward Omari Moore who’s currently leading the team in points (13.2), rebounds (5.2) and assists (4.5).
“Now that we have Ibrahima back who’s a seven-footer,” said Moore, “It’ll make things a little more difficult for Robinson and it gives us a better shot for sure.”
Through the four games Diallo has played in, he’s created acres of open real estate for Moore to score at the rim with some of his signature and cunning finishes. The flicks of the wrist are dazzling, acrobatic and unstoppable when Moore has enough room to contort his body like he’s going through an exorcism.
After watching SJSU’s two blowouts to Fresno State, Diallo grew a deep hunger as if it was the final day of Rhamadan.
“I’m hungry, I need it,” Diallo said.
“I think we struggled guarding him back-to-back so … I feel like I need to step up more than ever right now.”
For Diallo, he now enters post season play marching to a different tune than the previous couple years.
Before transferring to SJSU this season, Diallo played two seasons at Ohio State on teams that came into March with a high seeding and even higher expectations.
With very high expectations as the No. 2 seed in March Madness last season, the Buckeyes lost in the round of 64 to No. 15 seed Oral Roberts.
A year later, Diallo knows that during March nothing is guaranteed.
“One thing I know is that a team is a team and you have to respect them whether they come in ranked or unranked,” said Diallo.
Improbable heists have happened in Vegas, but this one might be bigger than Oceans 11 through 13 combined.