Oumar Ballo (born 13 July 2002) is a Malian

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player for the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

of the

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. He previously played for the

Gonzaga Bulldogs The Gonzaga Bulldogs () (also known unofficially as the Zags) are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing Gonzaga University, located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Gonzaga competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

. Listed at and , he plays the

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position.

Early life and career

Ballo grew up in

Koulikoro Koulikoro ( Bambara: ߞߎߟߌߞߏߙߏ tr. Kulikoro) is a town and urban commune in Mali. The capital of the Koulikoro Region, Koulikoro is located on banks of the Niger River, downstream from Mali's capital Bamako. Koulikoro is the terminus of ...

, Mali playing

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as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

but shifted his focus to

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

due to his exceptional height. His mother and brother, who had moved to France at age 15 to play the latter sport, encouraged him to switch to basketball. As a child, Ballo idolized

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) player

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greates ...

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 Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spain, Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in th ...

, Spain. He enrolled as a full-time student, despite not knowing Spanish or English, and started practicing basketball three times per day. In May 2017, Ballo was named

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

(MVP) of the Spain Under-16 Championship after helping Canterbury finish in third place, behind bigger clubs like

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, and leading the tournament in rebounds. In 2018, he averaged 15.1 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game at the Spanish Junior Championship, earning MVP honors. In October 2018, Ballo moved to NBA Academy Latin America, a training center in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Recruiting

In 2019, Ballo

reclassified ''Reclassified'' is the reissue of Australians, Australian rapper Iggy Azalea's debut studio album, ''The New Classic'' (2014). It was released internationally on 21 November 2014 by Virgin EMI Records, and in the United States on 24 November ...

from the 2020 recruiting class to the 2019 class and was subsequently rated a four-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

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and a five-star recruit by

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

. On 23 February 2019, he verbally committed to Gonzaga over offers from

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and Baylor, among others.

College career

On 28 October 2019, Ballo was ruled an academic

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

for the 2019–20 season by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

. As a freshman, he averaged 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds per game, earning

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

(WCC) All-Freshman Team honors. After the season, Ballo transferred to

to play for head coach

Tommy Lloyd Tommy Lloyd (born December 21, 1974) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach at the Arizona Wildcats men's team of the Pac-12 Conference. Playing career Lloyd was born in Kelso, Washington and attended Kelso High School, ...

, who had recruited him to Gonzaga.

National team career

Ballo played for Mali at the

2017 FIBA Under-16 African Championship The 2017 FIBA Africa Under-16 Championship, alternatively the 5th Afrobasket U16, was an international basketball competition held in Vacoas-Phoenix, Mauritius from 13–22 July 2017. It served as the qualifier for the 2018 FIBA Under-17 Basketb ...

Vacoas-Phoenix Vacoas-Phoenix () also known as French: ''Villes Jumelles'' (Twin Cities), is a town in Mauritius, located in the Plaines Wilhems District, the eastern part also lies in the Moka District. The town is administered by the Municipal Council of Vaco ...

, Mauritius. He averaged 14.4 points and 12.8 rebounds per game, winning the gold medal while making the tournament All-Star Five. Playing for Mali at the 2018 FIBA Under-17 World Cup in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, Ballo averaged 20.6 points and a tournament-high 16.9 rebounds per game and was named to the All-Star Five. On 7 July 2018, he recorded 32 points and a tournament-record 32 rebounds in a 110–108 triple

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), ...

loss to the Dominican Republic. Ballo won a gold medal with Mali at the

2018 FIBA Under-18 African Championship The 2018 FIBA U18 African Championship was the 19th edition, played under the rules of FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, and the FIBA Africa thereof. The tournament was hosted by Mali from 24 August to 2 September 2018 in Bamako. Th ...

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on t ...

, Mali. He averaged 8.5 points and six rebounds per game. Ballo competed at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup in

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban A ...

, Greece, missing the first two games due to

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

issues. 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. Ballo was named to the All-Star Five with teammate

Siriman Kanouté Siriman Kanouté (born 25 September 2001) is a Malian professional basketball player. He has starred for the Malian national junior teams on several occasions and trains with French club SLUC Nancy Basket. Early life and career Kanouté grew up ...

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Gonzaga , style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Gonzaga , 24 , , 0 , , 6.3 , , .629 , , – , , .552 , , 1.5 , , .1 , , .2 , , .3 , , 2.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , 0 , , 15.2 , , .622 , , – , , .701 , , 4.4 , , .6 , , .4 , , 1.2 , , 6.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 61 , , 0 , , 11.7 , , .623 , , – , , .667 , , 3.3 , , .4 , , .3 , , .8 , , 5.1

Personal life

Ballo's mother and father stand and respectively. His older brother, Drissa, who stands and weighs 118 kg (260 lbs), plays professional basketball in France.

References

External links

Arizona Wildcats bioGonzaga Bulldogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballo, Oumar 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