Mo Dioubate plays so hard he (accidentally) sent Braydon Hawthorne to the ER

How physical is Mo Dioubate? The Alabama transfer went after a ball in practice with such force that he knocked Braydon Hawthorne‘s tooth out of place, sending the freshman to the emergency room.

Hawthorne told reporters all about the incident at Kentucky Basketball Media Day. Hawthorne, a lanky 6’8″ 190 lbs. forward, switched over to defend the 6’7″ 220 lbs. Dioubate, who was coming off a screen. When Hawthorne knocked the ball loose, Dioubate went after it so hard that his arm collided with Hawthorne’s mouth, sending him to the floor and his tooth askew.

“I hit the ball when he went up, and he lost it, and he went after the ball, and his forearm just popped me in my mouth, and I just went down,” Hawthorne said. “I couldn’t see for a second. I was kind of dizzy, and then I was holding my mouth, and I tried to close my mouth, and my tooth was out of place. My lip was bleeding.”

“So right after that happened, they took me to the emergency room or whatever, and I had to get seven, eight stitches in my mouth, and they gave me three shots in my gums, and they moved my tooth back into place.”

Hawthorne’s mouth looked fine at Media Day, but he said there’s still a split in between his teeth, and he couldn’t chew with his front teeth for a month. His story is one very vivid example of the physicality that Dioubate brings to this Kentucky team. Last season at Alabama, Dioubate averaged 7.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, recording six double-doubles, four against SEC opponents. He won Alabama’s hard hat award, given to the player who made the most blue-collar plays, a team-high 13 times. Mark Pope’s first Kentucky team was great, but lacked a player who would dive after 50/50 balls. Dioubate is that guy, as Hawthorne now knows all too well.

“He affected my life real bad,” Hawthorne quipped.

Dioubate’s energy on defense is contagious. Mark Pope said today that this is an extremely competitive group, thanks in large part to Dioubate, who challenges his teammates each day.

“Mo Dioubate has just brought this beautiful, competitive, bully mentality to our team,” Pope said.

In an exclusive one-on-one this summer, Dioubate told KSR that he takes the challenge of improving Kentucky’s defense personally after playing a key role in shutting down the Cats, notably Otega Oweh, in three meetings last season.

“I can’t wait,” Diobuate said. “I try to get the guys going every practice to try to play as hard as I do, or at least match the intensity. I feel like that’s something that we could be really good at this year, defense. I feel like the defensive energy, it could be contagious, really contagious.”

Pope: “This Mo Dioubate is special.”

Mark Pope seized the chance to rave about Mo Dioubate off the court today, too. Pope was asked to describe the incoming transfers to fans in a single word and succeeded — until he got to Dioubate.

“Mo Dioubate, just — Mo is unique, okay? I can’t do one word, because he’s got all these sides.

“He’s got the motivation side. He’s got the Mo-D for the Kentucky side. He’s got the dog side. He’s got the incredible, humble, faithful, devoted side. He’s got — I can be a little emotional about Mo. He’s got the side where he’s going to protect his teammates at all costs, no matter whatever, whatever, whatever. This Mo Dioubate is special.”

Pope got a firsthand look at what makes Mo go when he visited him and his family at Mo’s mother’s apartment in the Bronx in May. You can learn all about that visit — the first a coach had made to Mo’s home — and Mo’s journey from Queens to Tuscaloosa to Lexington in the longform feature I published on him last night. It’s also available on YouTube.

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