He speaks 5 languages but there's more that sets Monmouth basketball's 7-1 center apart

He speaks 5 languages but there’s more that sets Monmouth basketball’s 7-1 center apart

Posted by Admin January 14, 2025 Basketball

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WEST LONG BRANCH – As Monmouth’s Abdi Bashir Jr. dissected Saturday’s upset of Charleston when containing Ante Brzovic, the CAA’s Preseason Player of the Year, was the focus, the star guard’s attention turned to the opposite end of the podium and 7-1 junior center Dok Muordar.

“Their main guy had 11 points. He’s a double-double every night, and Dok did that. Dok locked him up and made it hard for him early,” Bashir said. “Coach (King) Rice was telling him the whole time to guard him before he has the ball, and (Brozovic) was out of it mentally, you could see it. And I am hard on Dok a lot. I get on Dok more than anybody else.”

Everyone was tough on the Monmouth big men, including Muordar, a native of South Sudan, as the Hawks struggled in the paint during a 1-10 start against a tough non-conference schedule.

But he made his first start in their upset of Seton Hall on Nov. 30, and over the last six games he’s emerged as a force. Against Charleston he had 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots, hitting 5-of-7 shots and all four free throws.

He wears his first name on the back of his jersey, because “where I come from my county you go by your first name, and when I put Muordar there’s been confusion from my family.”

It’s not just one thing that sets Dok apart from his teammates. He speaks five languages. He came to this country to play basketball, living with a host family. He has 29 siblings – his dad has four wives – and has lost had relatives in his homeland’s bloody civil war.

Any differences on the court, however, are vanishing, as Dok emerges as a consistent contributor inside.

“Everybody wants to get mad at the big guy,” Rice said. “After our last game (against UNC Wilmington) I said when Dok rolls to the rim and we play the right way he was at like 1.2 points-per-possession. That’s freaky. Nobody else has that. Dok is just figuring it out – he’s just because he’s getting more comfortable with us.”

Hometown hero

When he walked off a plane on the dirt runway at the airport in his hometown of Rumbek, South Sudan in August 2023, Muordar was greeted with a hero’s welcome, as he returned for the first time in nearly eight years.

“It was so emotional, to get back and see all of the family,” he said. “My whole community was so excited for me to be back home. They came out and surprised me at the airport. I was not expecting everyone to come out. Some people came a long way.”

There are a number of good basketball players who have ties to his hometown, including Wenyen Gabriel, who spent six seasons in the NBA, including part of last season with the Memphis Grizzlies. Muordar being a Division 1 basketball player is a big deal in Rumbek and he led several sports clinics for young athletes while he was home.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, but the civil war raged from 2013-20.

“It can be good now and then in a couple of months get bad,” Muordar said.

Still, it wasn’t an easy decision to come to America.

“It was really hard,” he said. “My parents didn’t want me to come, I didn’t have any relatives here. One of the scouts that was talking to me, he brought a couple of guys. He had to meet my family before I came here. Some people looked up to him. He said it would be fine, so you guys don’t have to worry.”

After initially living in California, Muordar eventually settled with a host family in Huntington, West Virginia, where he played at Huntington Prep, averaging a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) as a senior.

He began his college career at South Florida, before transferring to Cleveland State, playing sparingly in a season with each program, before relocating to Monmouth this season.

Muordar’s parents have never seen him play an actual game, in person or on the internet. One of his relatives showed them an Instagram post of some highlights of him playing in high school, but that’s it.

“I had Steve Tchiengang and Festus Ezeli at Vanderbilt, and those dudes the same things – eight, 10 years without going home,” Rice said. “Now (Monmouth’s) Jaret (Valencia) has been home (Colombia) since he’s been here, but it had been six or seven years. If you’re 22 and you haven’t seen your mom in six years, that’s kind of wild.”

Making a difference through sports

Murodar opened the second half Saturday against Charleston by scoring off an offensive rebound to pull Monmouth within a point. And when he scored on back-to-back possessions, Monmouth had a 57-45 lead with 11 minutes to play.

“He’s just getting used to being here with us,” Rice said. “We get back from the trip (to Italy) and that’s when he got here, so he didn’t get all the preseason. all the stuff these guys did all summer together.

“And how I coach. How I am going to yell at you when you don’t do things and he’s looking at me like ‘man coach, I’m trying to do what you want.’ And he is just figuring out how we do it here. Now I know not to just yell at Dok because he is trying to do exactly what I want, and if he is not then I didn’t explain it well enough to him.”

Over the past six games, Muordar is averaging 7.0 points and 3.2 rebounds,

“I would like to thank coach King Rice,” Muordar said. “When I am not in the right position he told me calm down, do this the right way. And I’m feeling like this is my first time coming down with this team – with the transfer portal we have a lot of new players on our team. I am trying to pick up the offensive and defensive stuff.”

While there’s pressure to perform on the basketball court, Muordar is driven to succeed in his quest to provide common ground through sports and serve as an example of what’s possible for kids from a country where things like ethnic conflicts and climate change impact lives on a daily basis.

Stephen Edelson is a USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey sports columnist who has been covering athletics in the state and at the Jersey Shore for over 35 years. Contact him at: @SteveEdelsonAPP; sedelson@gannettnj.com.