Juco big man is first commit for Gates at Mizzou

Dennis Gates took all of three days to pick up his first commitment as Missouri’s head coach. Garden City CC (KS) big man Mohamed Diarra announced on Friday morning he had chosen to play for Gates in Columbia.

“(Gates) was definitely recruiting him at Cleveland State and I think he was even on the radar when he was at Florida State was when he first found out about him,” Garden City head coach Bill Morosco said. “There’s been a longer relationship than people would assume.

“t was just obvious that Mohamed was his first priority and that was something that stood out to both me and Mohamed.”

Diarra, 6-foot-10 and 215 pounds, is a native of Paris, France. He played at Redemption Christian Academy (NY) as a prep player and was a four-star prospect in the Class of 2020. He listed five offers, including one from St. John’s. This time around, Morosco said DePaul, Georgetown, Mississippi State, UCF, New Mexico and Loyola-Marymount were among the schools that had offered.

“He was the most heavily recruited juco prospect in the country,” Morosco said. “You name it, they called.”

As a freshman, Diarra averaged 8.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per game while blocking 35 shots. All of those numbers increased in Diarra’s sophomore season. He averaged 17.8 points and 12.6 rebounds playing 30 minutes a game for the Broncbusters. Diarra blocked 71 shots this season. He shot 45% from the floor, 30% from three-point range and 71% from the free throw line.

“There’s a lot of things you can’t teach with him,” Morosco said. “He’s an extremely versatile player, he’s kind of one of those hybrid four men now. He can play on the perimeter, can play inside, he’s unbelievable passer, he has a lot of point forward capabilities.

“Defensively, he’ll make a tremendous impact immediately and offensively, he probably will too.”

Morosco said Diarra will need to add some weight to his frame, which is one of the things they liked about the fit at Missouri. Being part of an SEC strength program should help his transition. Morosco also said Gates’ track record with junior college players was a factor in Diarra’s decision and at Mizzou, he’ll be able to attract a higher level of junior college player than he did in rebuilding Cleveland State. Diarra is on pace to graduate in May and will be in Columbia to start classes in the summer.

“He’s been a very good student for us and he’s a super high character kid, his teammates love him,” Morosco said. “I think he’ll really fit into the culture coach Gates is building there at Mizzou.”

Jucorecruiting.com ranks Diarra as the No. 1 junior college player in the country in the Class of 2022. He will have four years to play three at Missouri because the 2020-21 season did not count toward eligibility for junior college players due to COVID relief.