Season of the Tiger Review: Mohamed Diarra

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over the next few weeks, PowerMizzou.com We’ll take a look at the season for each of the Tigers’ players in turns. This week, we’ll start with Mohamed Diarra.

Diarra was not in the position of coach Dennis GatesRotation instantly. The young striker came to Missouri was evaluated by JUCOREcruiting.com As the top junior college player in the Class of 2022 from Garden City Community College. But Diarra has only featured in five matches over Mizu’s first 15 matches of the season, never playing more than five minutes.

Gates said that every newcomer to the team has to go through a “transition”. He thought Diarra took a little longer, being a native of Montreuil, France and having no NCAA Division I experience.

The 6-foot-10 big guy is starting to see consistent minutes for a few games on the Tigers’ SEC roster. He played nine minutes in the team’s road game against Texas A&M on January 11 and has seen his role gradually expand since then.

Diarra made an immediate impact on Glass. At KenPom, Mizzou led by grabbing 12.3% of his available offensive rebounds and 21.1% of his available defensive rebounds while on the floor. He was an especially welcome addition to a team that ranked second to last in the country in defensive rebound rate.

He was productive on defense as well, declining shots on 6.5% of possessions, the highest mark on the team, and coming away with steals on 2.5% of possessions. Diarra broke into the starting lineup for the first time in a road game against Mississippi State on February 21 and remained there for the next five games. His ability to take on the biggest player on the opposing team helped free up the first striker Kobe BrownAt 6-foot-8 he was often undersized for the task. But when needed, he was also able to switch to guards and showed enough lateral speed to keep up with the perimeter.

Offensively, Diarra has highlighted many of the tools Gates appreciates from his attackers. He runs the floor well, gets to the rim often and even hits four three-pointers.

Diarra saw some holes in his game unfold the more he played. Listed at 215 pounds, Diarra was sometimes too light to handle some of the largest mail players in the SEC. He can also get restless chasing after blocks – Diarra committed 6.2 fouls every 40 minutes.

His touch and general confidence in attack also waned. According to CBB Analytics, Diarra has connected just 45.7% of his shots inside the paint. Defenses fell behind on him when he was scouted on the outside, going just 4-16 from deep for the season.

“He just wants to be perfect, and sometimes when you have guys who want to be perfect, they miss opportunities,” Gates said after the Tigers’ loss to Alabama in the SEC Tournament semifinals on March 11. I want him to measure himself based on how many “points” I have. I want him to measure himself out of the whole game, how it affects defense, how it affects the extra pass, how it affects the rebound, how it even affects the character of our team. So you just have to manage the youngsters who want to be perfect, especially at this stage… He just wants to play well and represent his family, represent our organization and his teammates well. He doesn’t want to let anyone down.”

Diarra should find a more consistent role next season, which could lead to a more consistent output. The Tigers hope to lean forward a bit next year.

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