Mark Pope Says Mo Dioubate is 'Making This Sacred' With His Play During Ramadan

Mo Dioubate played an instrumental role in Kentucky’s 91-77 win over No. 25 Vanderbilt on Saturday. His eight points, four rebounds, and three steals were made even more impressive, given he’s doing it during the Muslim holiday of Ramadam.

Dioubate, the 6-foot-7 forward, has been fasting from sunrise to dusk every day since Ramadan started on Feb. 17, and he will continue this until the holiday ends on March 19. After the win, Mark Pope talked about the “sacrifice” that Dioubate has made for this Kentucky team.

“We’ve talked about it as a team. When you sacrifice, literally, when you make things sacred, you hope you spend your whole life making things sacred,” Pope said. “He is making this sacred. When you sacrifice to make things sacred, the payoff sometimes is rewarded by great play. Sometimes, it’s inside yourself, but you always get payoff for making things sacred.”

It Goes Beyond Not Eating or Drinking

Mo Dioubate’s fast during Ramadan goes beyond just not eating or drinking. Mark Pope said that Dioubate won’t even “rinse his mouth during games.”

“It takes a lot of work and sacrifice to make things sacred, but that’s what he’s doing. I have unbelievable respect for him,” Pope said. “To do it, at this point, in season. There’s nobody that’s making him do it. It’s just a sign of his devotion to his faith. His personal choice is not even rinse out his mouth during games.”

Pope said that Dioubate got up this morning, participated in a full shootaround, and then rested for the game. His 24 minutes during Saturday’s game were impactful.

“He comes out here and plays 24 minutes in a really, really competitive game, is incredibly physical, and never ever rinses his mouth out, and won’t for the next five hours until he eats again,” Pope said. “That’s a beautiful thing. When people make commitments like that, and they sacrifice to make things sacred, that’s special. It’s just who he is. I could talk about that for days because I’m really proud of him. It’s a great sign that we just be taking things in our life and making them sacred.”