Mo Dioubate exemplifying what Nate Oats wants from blue collar basketball

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama forward Mo Dioubate has been turning heads all season with his hard-nosed, effort-filled, physical play coming off the Crimson Tide bench.

It was unknown what exactly his role would be this season, coming off a freshman season where he only averaged 7.7 points per game and coming back to a loaded roster with Alabama’s offseason additions. Instead of being lost to the end of the rotation he’s upped his production across the board, averaging more points, rebounds and minutes than he did a season ago and becoming an indispensable piece of the Tide’s bench.

“He exemplifies what we’re trying to build this program into,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “We call it ‘blue collar basketball,’ he’s as blue collar as they get. He’s all about getting stops.”

One of the staples of the blue collar basketball program is giving out a hard hat at the end of each game for the player who recorded the point blue collar points. Blue collar points are earned through things such as rebounds, steals, blocks, and other dirty-work plays that don’t show up on the typical stat sheet like floor dives and deflections.

Dioubate, coming off the bench, currently leads the team with seven hard hat awards this season. He’s second on the team in total blue collar points (311.5), only trailing Grant Nelson (335.5), who plays over 10 more minutes per game than Dioubate does.

Oats was asked if he’d ever had another bench player be as productive from a blue collar standpoint than Dioubate, and he couldn’t think of one.

“Herb Jones did it our first couple years here. [Charles] Bediako became a big one. We’ve had years where multiple guys did it. Probably not, I’d have to go back and ask Bauman. Maybe the first guy off the bench to do it like he’s doing it,” Oats said. “Occasionally we kind of joke with him, because he’s not at all Hollywood-type, he’s a New York City kid, so we call him Broadway Mo when we’re kind of trying to jab at him a little bit. Calling him soft to get him going a little bit, saying we got the Broadway Mo today and not the southside Jamaica, Queens Mo.”

Dioubate is coming off another gave where he won the hard hat, being essential in the Crimson Tide’s road win over No. 14 Mississippi State on Wednesday night. In his 18 minutes he scored four points and grabbed nine rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive end.

“He’s blue collar, he’s not afraid to mix it up. He got about every offensive rebound in the second half for us against Mississippi State,” Oats said. “He gets the free throw ones, he has big blocked shots. He makes the play at the end of the game, knocks it off Hubbard’s leg to cause the turnover that essentially seals the game for us. We switch him onto point guards when we need to, we play him on fours and fives. Literally whatever it takes to win the games, and has never complained about minutes. Just explain to him what he’s gotta do to get more minutes, and he’s like, ‘Alright, got it, Coach,’ nods his head, and proceeds to do what you tell him to do.”

While his offensive game and skills are still coming around, he’s been the best rebounder on the team over the course of the season. He’s averaging over 20 rebounds per 100 possessions played, and has an offensive rebounding rate of over 16 percent. He doesn’t qualify for national rankings because of playing time, but if he did, he would rank in the top 15 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage.

“He’s not the most skilled kid on the team. We’re working on getting that better,” Oats said. “I will say there are certain skills he’s pretty good at. I mean, you hit him in the pocket, and he makes pocket reads as good as anybody on the team. You get him going downhill, in certain situations he finishes at the rim better than anybody on the team.

“Absolute joy to coach, I’m really glad we’ve got him. … As far as the blue collar toughness stuff, he’s what we want to be about.”

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