Game 5: Stony Brook (0-0, 0-0 AE) vs. Texas-Rio Grande Valley (1-1, 0-0 WAC)
LOCATION	Walsh Gymnasium | South Orange, N.J.
DATE | TIME	Saturday, November 9 | 2:30 p.m.
TICKETS	Buy Now
COVERAGE	Online: Team1Sports | Live Stats
GAME NOTES	Stony Brook | UTRGV

Game 6: Stony Brook (0-0, 0-0 AE) vs. NDSU (2-1, 0-0 Summit)
LOCATION	Island Federal Arena | Stony Brook, N.Y.
DATE | TIME	Monday, November 11 | 7 p.m.
TICKETS	Buy Now
COVERAGE	Online: Team1Sports | Live Stats
GAME NOTES	Stony Brook | NDSU
UP NEXT	at Wagner | Nov. 23 | 3 p.m. Next Home Game: Dec. 2 vs. Manhattan | 7 p.m. | Buy Tickets

STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Adjustments have never been scarce in the life of Stony Brook men's basketball junior forward Mouhamadou Gueye (Staten Island, N.Y.).
 
Sure, the transition from high school to junior college, then junior college to Division I are big steps. His started before then, with an unexpected growth spurt.
 
"Everywhere I went, especially to people I hadn't seen in awhile, they were so shocked and surprised," Gueye said before his team took off to Corpus Christi for the three-day Islander Invitational. "I don't really feel any type of way about it, though."
 
During his sophomore year, he stood at 5 foot 10 inches, directing offenses at his high school in the southern-most New York City borough. By the end of that season, he had popped up two inches. Entering his junior year, the spurt jumped to eight inches and Gueye was now a 6-foot-6-inch guard. Currently, the frame sits at 6 foot 10 inches.
 
"The thing I had to adjust to the most was being stared at if I'm being honest," he said with a laugh. "When you're average height, nobody really notices but when you grow to 6-8, 6-9, 6-10, it's everywhere you go."
 
A spectacle to some off the floor, he has quickly made his mark on the floor for first-year head coach Geno Ford. He has overtaken classmate Jeff Otchere (Bronx, N.Y.) in the block column, swatting 11 shots in the first three games, a number good for eighth in the country.
 
He's also been productive elsewhere, averaging 10 points, eight rebounds and two assists per game in his first three appearances. Even with his height adjustment, the game remained the same.
 
"Back then, I was a guard, so I did a lot of work on my passing and ball handling," he said. "As I got older, I never really felt like I had to change my game up and switch to post moves so I just kept working on the same things I had been."
 
Now, he's utilizing all of that training for a very unique advantage.
 
"I feel like being able to get from point A to point B in a certain amount of quickness gives me an advantage, especially when people guarding me are the same height but not as quick on their feet".
 
The son of two Senegal natives, Gueye learned from his father, who played in his home country before coming to the United States.
 
"We have cassettes full of Jordan games and Knick games," he recalls. "He was a big Knicks fan. I learned basketball from him growing up."
 
A big Allen Iverson fan as a kid, he has drawn the nickname "Little KD" from teammates due to his stature and play style, but he is quick to praise the original KD, Kevin Durant.
 
"He is in a completely different category," he said. "I get the comparison when you're really tall and can handle the ball but he's in his own right. There are no other KDs".
 
He's been able to fill a stat sheet like him in his first three games and it has all come naturally.
 
"I don't see it as going for lots of blocks or lots of rebounds in a game," he says. "I feel like it just happens through the natural progression of a game".
 
Even on a night where he shot 1-for-5 and only totaled four points, he still grabbed 10 boards and blocked five shots in Stony Brook's opening night overtime loss to Yale. Four days later, against the No. 12 team in the country, he finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists.
 
"My coaches have always harped on me that I have the skill set to do more than one thing on the floor," Gueye said.
 
The development of his youth is paying off and the adjustments have been easy: even after growing a foot.

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