Moussa Cissé (born 10 September 2002) is a Guinean

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 (appro ...

player for the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

of the

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

(NBA). He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Memphis Tigers The Memphis Tigers are the athletic teams that represent the University of Memphis, located in Memphis, Tennessee. The teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the American Athletic C ...

Ole Miss Rebels The Ole Miss Rebels are the 18 men's and women's College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that are funded by and represent the University of Mississippi, located in Oxford, Mississippi, Oxford. The first was the Ole ...

and the

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

. He was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the best centers in the 2020 class.

Early life

Cissé was born in

Conakry Conakry ( , ; ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its population as of the 2014 Guinea census was 1,660,973. The current population of C ...

, Guinea, and lived there until age 14, when he moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. He had grown up playing

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

. Cissé started playing high school basketball for

St. Benedict's Preparatory School St. Benedict's Preparatory School is a Catholic college preparatory school in Newark, New Jersey run by the Benedictine monks of Newark Abbey. The school serves boys and girls in kindergarten through twelfth grade on a urban campus. The scho ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, playing alongside

Precious Achiuwa Precious Ezinna Achiuwa (born September 19, 1999) is a Nigerian professional basketball player who last played for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He attended high school in the United States, where he was a cons ...

. For two years, he played for

Christ the King Regional High School Christ the King Regional High School is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic high school for grades 9–12 located in Middle Village, Queens, New York, United States and established in 1962. It is located within the Roman Catholi ...

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, where he was teammates with

Kofi Cockburn Kofi Mazeze Cockburn ( ; born 1 September 1999) is a Jamaican professional basketball player for the Hiroshima Dragonflies of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for the Illinois Fighting Illini. Early life Cockburn was born in ...

. As a sophomore, Cissé led his team to the Class AA state title game. For his junior season, he transferred to

Lausanne Collegiate School Lausanne Collegiate School (; previously Lausanne School for Girls) is an independent, coeducational college-placement school in Memphis, Tennessee. With grades for pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, the school has a sizable international ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. On 25 November 2019, Cissé recorded 31 points, 22 rebounds and 21 blocks, surpassing the Shelby County single-game blocks record held by Mitch Omar since 1976–77. He led Lausanne to the Division II-A state championship, where he was named

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (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 particular competition, or ...

after posting 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine blocks against

First Assembly Christian School First Assembly Christian school (FACS) is a private, college preparatory Christian school located in the Cordova section of Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated alo ...

. As a junior, Cissé averaged 18.4 points, 15.3 rebounds and 9.2 blocks per game, earning Division II-A Tennessee Mr. Basketball honors. He broke Michael Wilson's single-season city record for blocks per game set in 1989–90.

Recruiting

Cissé was a consensus five-star recruit, according to major recruiting services, and was considered a top 10 player in the 2021 recruiting class. On 27 May 2020, he announced that he would graduate from high school a year early and reclassify to the 2020 class, where he remained a five-star recruit. On 15 July, Cissé committed to play

for

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

. He was drawn to the program by head coach

Penny Hardaway Anfernee Deon "Penny" Hardaway (born July 18, 1971) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Memphis Tigers men's team in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). Hardaway played colle ...

and former high school teammate Precious Achiuwa, who had played for Memphis in the previous season.

College career

At Memphis, Cissé posted his first double-double on December 2, 2020, scoring 14 points and securing 10 rebounds in an 83–54 victory over

Arkansas State Arkansas State University (A-State or ASU) is a public research university in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. It is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System and the second-largest university in the state. The university ...

. In his freshman year, he averaged 6.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, earning American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year honors. On April 6, 2021, Cissé declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. The NBA draft returned to Brooklyn after 2020 NBA draft, the pre ...

while maintaining his college eligibility. He later withdrew from the draft and entered the transfer portal. On July 15, 2021, he transferred to

, choosing the Cowboys over

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. In his sophomore year, Cissé was named

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

Co-Defensive Player of the Year, alongside Baylor’s Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua and

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

’s Gabe Osabuohien. He averaged 7.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. As a junior, he was named to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team. After the 2022-23 season Cissé entered the transfer portal for a second time, later committing to play for

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

over offers from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. For the 2024-25 season, Cissé transferred back to Memphis.

Professional career

In July 2025, he was signed by the

Career statistics

College

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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 ...

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

, 28 , , 28 , , 18.6 , , .552 , , .000 , , .324 , , 6.3 , , .5 , , .3 , , 1.6 , , 6.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 26 , , 20.0 , , .559 , , – , , .562 , , 6.5 , , .3 , , .4 , , 1.9 , , 7.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 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 ...

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

, 32 , , 20 , , 22.6 , , .582 , , – , , .410 , , 8.0 , , .6 , , .3 , , 1.9 , , 6.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;",

, 26 , , 17 , , 17.5 , , .558 , , .000 , , .263 , , 4.6 , , .3 , , .7 , , 1.4 , , 4.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2024–25 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 16 , , 18.2 , , .548 , , .000 , , .488 , , 6.5 , , .5 , , .7 , , 1.6 , , 5.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 150, , 107 , , 19.4 , , .561 , , .000 , , .438 , , 6.5 , , .4 , , .5 , , 1.7 , , 6.2

References

External links

Memphis Tigers bioOklahoma State Cowboys bioOle Miss Rebels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cisse, Moussa 2002 births Living people 21st-century Guinean sportsmen Centers (basketball) Guinean expatriate basketball people in the United States Guinean men's basketball players Lausanne Collegiate School alumni Memphis Tigers men's basketball players Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball players Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball players Sportspeople from Conakry St. Benedict's Preparatory School alumni