How Alabama forward Mo Dioubate is preparing to play while fasting for Ramadan
Tonight, on the eve of Alabama’s monster matchup with Tennessee, it’s the beginning of the month of Ramadan, a time of great importance for sophomore Alabama forward Mo Dioubate.
Dioubate is a practicing Muslim, meaning during Ramadan he fasts from sunrise until sunset. That creates a challenging situation for a Division-I college basketball player to be properly sustained to play a game, especially a player that plays as hard and with as much energy as him.
Alabama head coach Nate Oats said the team nutritionist has been working with Dioubate to prepare him.
“Amanda’s our nutritionist, so it mainly affects him in that way, because he can’t eat until sundown,” Oats said. “She’s been trying to get him gradually worked into having meals between sundown and sunup. Tomorrow will be the first game where he can’t eat after the sun comes up. He’s gonna have to get himself a good meal before the sun comes up. He’ll be up before the rest of us to make sure he’s eating. He seemed to handle it pretty well last year. This will be a game – it’s 4 o’clock here – I don’t know when the sun goes down here, but he may not be able to eat until after the game in this one.”
The sun rises in Knoxville on Saturday at 7:10 a.m., and it won’t set 6:31 p.m. The game between Alabama and Tennessee tips off at 4 p.m., which means, barring an overtime game, Dioubate likely won’t get to eat again after sunrise until after the game ends.
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This isn’t new to him, though. This happened last season as well, when Ramadan lasted from March 10 until April 9. That included Alabama’s first round NCAA Tournament game against Charleston, when the sun set during the game and the Crimson Tide staff had food ready for Dioubate and Mohamed Wague, another practicing Muslim on last year’s team, to eat when they were allowed.
In fact, one of Dioubate’s best game of his freshman season came during the month of Ramadan, when he came off the bench to score nine points and grab five rebounds in a comeback win over Grand Canyon to send the Crimson Tide to the Sweet 16.
“There were some games last year in the NCAA Tournament where he was able to eat part-way through the game,” Oats said. “It seemed like he had his energy pretty well, he handled it pretty well. So Amanda’s got a pretty good grasp of that.”
Dioubate is currently thriving in an expanded role during his sophomore season in Tuscaloosa. His averages have jumped across the board from his freshman season, now playing 15 minutes a game as opposed to seven, and averaging 6.9 points and 5.8 rebounds on the year. He’s established himself as one of the top ‘glue guys’ in both the SEC and all of college basketball.
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