UC Irvine coach: No flopping against Mamadou Ndiaye
SEATTLE – UC Irvine coach Russell Turner is well-known for being confident and competitive and his team kind of plays the same way, so he's not worried about his players flopping in the first NCAA tournament game in school history.
But he is worried about Louisville flopping.
That's because Turner, in addition to coaching the team with the most unusual nickname — they're the Anteaters — also coaches the team with perhaps the most intriguing, and most difficult to officiate, player.
Mamadou Ndiaye is 7-feet-6, the tallest player in college basketball, and he also weighs 300 pounds, and when he simply turns around, Turner says, opposing players fall down like the Cowardly Lion in a field of poppies.
"The biggest issue that we faced with Mamadou is flopping, teams that flop," Turner said Thursday, a day before Ndiaye and the 13th-seeded Anteaters take on No.4 seed Louisville in Seattle's KeyArena. "That's been an effective strategy at times against him this year. But one of the teams that was most effective in flopping against Mamadou was the team we beat in the semifinals of our tournament (UC Santa Barbara, in the Big West tourney).
"I believe that the basketball gods in the end don't reward flopping."
Ndiaye represents a huge X factor in this matchup. He missed 19 games in January and February with a foot injury but has been healthy down the stretch. His production, though, varies wildly.
In his last five games, he's scored as few as three points and as many as 18. Overall, he averages 10.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.
He's not exactly a stiff. Nor does he move fluidly, and he is prone to getting into foul trouble.
He can be difficult to defend. He can be difficult to shoot over. And he is almost always difficult to officiate.
"I do that in practice and it's not easy," Turner said. "In fact, I bought MMA headgears for my backup post players that they have worn because he's big and he's powerful, and for that reason he's dangerous when he just makes normal basketball plays. When he pivots legally and his elbows are up, if you're in the wrong spot, you're going to have a problem.
"I worry that the rule that exists in college basketball about elbow contact to heads is one that officials can't get their arms around completely. It's unfair to a guy like Mamadou. He ends up getting punished unfairly. I have to have faith that that will be called right. The refs in this tournament are the best ones and the most experienced ones. I imagine that they will be well prepared.
"I know that Mamadou goes out of his way to play without fouling. If he really wanted to be aggressive in a way that could hurt somebody, he would and he would hurt people."
Mamadou, a sophomore from Senegal, expects Louisville will try to get him in early foul trouble. How will he counter?
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"Just be smarter," he said. "Handle the pressure, whatever they bring. I know that's their plan, to try to get me in foul trouble. But we'll see."
If he can avoid the quick fouls, UC Irvine's chances at an upset increase tremendously.
"We have a guy who's a half-foot taller than anybody's ever seen on the floor," Turner said. "I think that's especially a factor when a team is playing against Mamadou for the first time. It's hard to imagine his size, his height and his length. So he's a great presence.
"We have gotten better at playing with him on both ends of the floor, because it's really different for us as well to play with a guy with his size and the elements he brings to the game. I feel so fortunate that we have got him. He's an incredible fit at UC Irvine. He wants the academic challenge that we have given him. He's one of the most charismatic players I've ever been around. He's a real personality on campus."