Oumar Ballo (basketball)
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File:Oumar Ballo 2 (cropped).jpg
Ballo with Arizona in 2021
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No. 11 – Arizona Wildcats | |
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Position | Center |
League | Pac-12 Conference |
Personal information | |
Born | Koulikoro, Mali |
13 July 2002
Nationality | Malian |
Listed height | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) |
Listed weight | 260 lb (118 kg) |
Career information | |
High school | Canterbury Academy (Las Palmas, Spain) |
College | |
Career highlights and awards | |
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Medals
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Oumar Ballo (born 13 July 2002) is a Malian college basketball player for the Arizona Wildcats of the Pac-12 Conference. He previously played for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Listed at 7 feet 0 inches (2.13 m) and 260 pounds (118 kg), he plays the center position.
Contents
Early life and career
Ballo grew up in Koulikoro, Mali playing football as a goalkeeper but shifted his focus to basketball due to his exceptional height.[1][2] His mother and brother, who had moved to France at age 15 to play the latter sport, encouraged him to switch to basketball.[1] As a child, Ballo idolized National Basketball Association (NBA) player Shaquille O'Neal.[3]
High school career
When he was 11 years old, Ballo began training with coach Mohamed Diarra in his hometown, eventually earning an invitation from Canterbury Academy, a British private school in Las Palmas, Spain.[4] He enrolled as a full-time student, despite not knowing Spanish or English, and started practicing basketball three times per day.[1] In May 2017, Ballo was named most valuable player (MVP) of the Spain Under-16 Championship after helping Canterbury finish in third place, behind bigger clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid, and leading the tournament in rebounds.[1][5] In 2018, he averaged 15.1 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game at the Spanish Junior Championship, earning MVP honors.[6]
In October 2018, Ballo moved to NBA Academy Latin America, a training center in Mexico City sponsored by the NBA, CONADE, and Mexican Basketball Federation.[5][7] He missed a large portion of the 2018–19 season with an ankle injury.[8] In February 2019, Ballo played at the Basketball Without Borders camp at 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he was one of the youngest participants.[9]
Recruiting
In 2019, Ballo reclassified from the 2020 recruiting class to the 2019 class and was subsequently rated a four-star recruit by 247Sports and a five-star recruit by Rivals.[10][11] On 23 February 2019, he verbally committed to Gonzaga over offers from Arizona and Baylor, among others.[12][9]
Name | Home town | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date | |
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Oumar Ballo C |
Koulikoro, Mali | NBA Academy Latin America (MX) | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 245 lb (111 kg) | Feb 23, 2019 | |
Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: N/A ESPN grade: — | ||||||
Overall recruiting rankings: Rivals: — 247Sports: 66 ESPN: — | ||||||
Sources:
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College career
On 28 October 2019, Ballo was ruled an academic redshirt for the 2019–20 season by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.[13] As a freshman, he averaged 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds per game, earning West Coast Conference (WCC) All-Freshman Team honors. After the season, Ballo transferred to Arizona to play for head coach Tommy Lloyd, who had recruited him to Gonzaga.[14]
National team career
Ballo played for Mali at the 2017 FIBA Under-16 African Championship in Vacoas-Phoenix, Mauritius. He averaged 14.4 points and 12.8 rebounds per game, winning the gold medal while making the tournament All-Star Five.[15] Playing for Mali at the 2018 FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Argentina, Ballo averaged 20.6 points and a tournament-high 16.9 rebounds per game and was named to the All-Star Five.[16] On 7 July 2018, he recorded 32 points and a tournament-record 32 rebounds in a 110–108 triple overtime loss to the Dominican Republic.[17] Ballo won a gold medal with Mali at the 2018 FIBA Under-18 African Championship in Bamako, Mali. He averaged 8.5 points and six rebounds per game.[18]
Ballo competed at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup in Heraklion, Greece, missing the first two games due to visa issues.[19][20] In five games, he averaged 17.6 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 3.8 blocks per game, leading Mali to a silver medal, the best performance by an African team at a global basketball tournament.[20] Ballo was named to the All-Star Five with teammate Siriman Kanouté.[21]
Career statistics
Legend | |||||
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GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
College
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019–20 | Gonzaga | Redshirt | ||||||||||
2020–21 | Gonzaga | 24 | 0 | 6.3 | .629 | – | .552 | 1.5 | .1 | .2 | .3 | 2.5 |
2021–22 | Arizona | 37 | 0 | 15.2 | .622 | – | .701 | 4.4 | .6 | .4 | 1.2 | 6.8 |
Career | 61 | 0 | 11.7 | .623 | – | .667 | 3.3 | .4 | .3 | .8 | 5.1 |
Personal life
Ballo's mother and father stand Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). and Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). respectively. His older brother, Drissa, who stands Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). and weighs 118 kg (260 lbs), plays professional basketball in France.[1]
References
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External links
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hatnote templates targeting a nonexistent page
- Pages with broken file links
- 2002 births
- Living people
- 21st-century Malian people
- Arizona Wildcats men's basketball players
- Centers (basketball)
- Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball players
- Malian expatriate basketball people in Spain
- Malian expatriate basketball people in the United States
- Malian men's basketball players
- People from Koulikoro Region