Mouhamed Sylla expects to meet Ross Hodge’s challenges
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MORGANTOWN - If first impressions are everything, Mouhamed Sylla would not be playing basketball in a WVU uniform against Mercer at 7 p.m. today.
The 6-foot-10 center from Louga, Senegal, wasn't introduced to the sport until his early days of high school. Let's just say Sylla didn't take to the game right away.
"My cousin brought me to the gym. I honestly didn't like it," Sylla said. "I was playing soccer. That was my main sport. The first time they told me to go play basketball, I was like, 'This is for females.' "
His opinions of the game changed over time, and certainly after it became a realization that he could make a new life for himself in the sport.
"I never thought I was going to play here in America," Sylla said. "When my cousin first started talking to me about basketball, he said there might be a chance to go play in Europe, but I never knew I could go play in college.
"It's been a blessing. My sophomore year in high school, I started thinking this might be my sport and I could do good things."
Sylla first came to the United States prior to his senior year of high school. He arrived at Bella Vista (Ariz.) Prep, where he was first introduced to Miles Sadler and Aliou Dioum, who are now his WVU teammates.
"Being able to play with those guys is a blessing," Sylla said. "I feel like it's a little crazy. I never thought that me, Miles and Aliou would be together in college. It's kind of cool, though."
After that one season at Bella Vista, Sylla became a sort of household name in the recruiting ranks. He was ranked as the No. 4 high school center in the nation and the 29th top prospect overall in the Class of 2025, according to ESPN.
"I do love basketball now," he jokes.
He signed with Georgia Tech, and his freshman season began with 14 points and 15 rebounds in his first college game. Over his first six games, Sylla had five double-doubles. Then came an ankle injury that pretty much derailed the rest of the season He ended up playing in just 16 games as a freshman.
"It wasn't easy for me last season," Sylla said. "I really started well and then, after 14 games, I got hurt. It was the hardest part of my year. In my mind, I just kept thinking I had to get healthy and help my team."
That part never played out, because Sylla's last action was playing two minutes against Clemson on Jan. 24. He entered the transfer portal after the season and signed at WVU (2-0) in April.
"I didn't get a chance to go back there and play," he said. "I feel like this year, I have the time to help my team win and do it this year."
Sylla's injury weighs on WVU head coach Ross Hodge. Not for fear of another injury, but rather it limited Sylla's exposure to American basketball.
"He's still a very young player and a lot of this is new to him," Hodge said. “It's a new environment. I had to build a level of trust between myself and him, and you have to get to the trust part before you can get to developing his skills."
And what Hodge was seeing early on from Sylla during the team's exhibition games just wasn't cutting it.
"His willingness to let me tell him the truth and he let me challenge him in areas where he's got to get better," Hodge said. "He responds well to that. He needed to impose his will a little more physically. He needed to play with a motor and play through fatigue."
Sylla took Hodge’s words to heart.
"He challenged me a lot in practice to go hard," Sylla said. "He would tell me the way I'm going is not hard enough. He expects me to do more, and I kind of feel that. Anything he wants to challenge me with, I feel like I can answer."
Heading into today's game with the high-scoring Bears (2-2), Sylla is averaging 10.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and is shooting 58.3% from the field. Hodge said that is simply scratching the surface.
"His words and his actions and his habits have to align with where he says he wants to be," Hodge said. "That's where you have to be honest. He wants to be a great player and that's why he's allowed me to push him hard and coach him hard and tell him the truth."