'That's Who I Am': How Mama Dembele Brought the European Style of Basketball to Mizzou

After four years with the team, senior guard Mama Dembele is looking to pass the torch of bringing a different style of play to the newest European players on the team.

Having a full 30 seconds for the shot clock may not seem like it's a very big deal, but when it's what senior Guard Mama Dembele was used to for most of her basketball career, she notices when it's not all used. 

A drastic difference in the pace, a different strategy, more physicality. Dembele saw all of this from other teams when she played for Spain's National Team, but it would now be her playing in that environment, rather than against it. 

"It's a big adjustment," Dembele said. "We used to play in a certain way and then you come here and they just change everything."

She used to have the whole time on the shot clock to work, but with the faster pace of the game in the U.S., Dembele isn't able to do that anymore. She's had to change how she plays a bit, go to the weight room more and be more physical as part of her transition between the European style and American style. 

"It shocks me a little bit always," Dembele said. "The speed [in American basketball] is crazy, and I'm a fast player. I feel like it got me a little bit, how much other people's can run on the floor."

But most importantly, she's had to put a focus on staying who she is and not become a player she isn't — to remember what she brings to the table. 

"[I have to] stay true to myself," Dembele said "Not try to be the American Mama, but just the Mama from Spain and just bring that to the team."

Playing there since she was 8 years old, her foundation is certainly in the European style of play. It's what she knows and grew up with for most of her life. She's used to  the larger focus on structure, more ball screens and the use of more of the shot clock time. She was taught to look at and play the game differently than her American teammates. 

She isn't shy about her differences in how she plays, though. In fact, she embraces it. To her, she is the European style of play.

"I would say that's who I am," Dembele said. "Everything you see... my game, the way I live basketball... it all comes from where I'm from."

Guard Mama Dembele sits with coach Robin Pingeton on the Missouri Bench during the Tiger's game against Northern Alabama on Nov. 14 :: Amber Winkler / MizzouCentral

Mama isn't the only European player on the team anymore. With the 2023-24 season, Missouri saw two more European players join the team with freshman center Lucija Milkovic from Sibenik, Croatia and freshman power forward Hilke Feldrappe from Berlin, Germany. 

With nearly a quarter of the team being from Europe, the team was bound to see changes in their style and have aspects of European play creeping into their play. However, coach Robin Pingeton isn't afraid to use their knowledge and experience to her advantage.

"We have a lot of conversations where sometimes [coach Pingeton] asks me about my perspective on things that I've done in the past with my national team," Dembele said. "I feel like she's always willing to include those things, especially when she thinks it's going to work. She's such a great coach that wants to learn and she's not afraid to ask us for our opinion."

With the Missouri Women's Basketball team starting their 2023-24 campaign strong, the coaches are looking to get the new players as much playing time as they can, especially before Southeastern Conference play begins. Their talent aside, the difference in experience and playing style could make them tougher to beat. 

"It's just a different style with international players and it really aligns with how we like to play in regards to our motion offense, screening and in just the movement away from the ball," Pingeton said.

Missouri has been incorporating the different mindsets in order to become more of a stronger, and unique, challenge. After all, someone's thoughts can't be put down on paper, nor the learning process. So it'll be tougher for opponents to predict how each player will react due to their experience abroad.

"It's gonna be an advantage because that's something that you can't really put in the scouting report," Dembele said. "I mean, that's just how people are, how they play and that's something that they have in them. So that's something additional that is going to be more difficult for them to guard us, to have a report against us"

Dembele's strategic mind can still be seen in aspects of her play, despite her having to shift the way she think to fit the faster American play. But her transition wasn't quite an easy one. 

Mama Dembele listens to coach Robin Pingeton's instructions during Missouri's game versus Northern Alabama on Nov. 14.   :: Amber Winkler / MizzouCentral

Four years ago, she made her journey alone and had to figure out this new style of play all on her own. But now, she gets to be the person that she didn't have. 

"In my freshman year, I struggled because I've never had someone that understood my situation," Dembele said. "I feel like just being that presence for them and helping them through all the questions or sometimes just feeling insecure because their not used to the way Americans play has been huge for me and for them"

While she imparts her wisdom on the newest European members of the Tigers, Dembele gets to be around people who understand what she went through when she came here. She gets to help save them from the mistakes she made, while also having colleagues who can relate to the ones she continues to make. 

"I think for the first time I can have someone in the team that I can relate to, or sometimes I do some mistakes and I'm like, 'that's because we're so used to European basketball and here is completely different'," Dembele said.

With the senior running out of time on the team, it will be up to Feldrappe and Milkovic to continue impacting Missouri's play and bringing their own talents and experience to the table. It will be up to them to keep carrying the torch of European style of play and keep blending the aspects into each game and practice.

"I feel like they're going to continue to build that [next year], bring this new experience and this new perspective of the game, so I feel like it's just going to continue to grow," Dembele said. 

She may be gone next year, but Dembele will definitely have left her mark on both Missouri and all of the teammates she played with and helped. During her time, she has been able to teach her fellow teammates new skills and ways to think about the sport.

Dembele's made more than an impact. She's creating a legacy. 

"I feel like I brought to this team everything I had and they're always gonna carry that with them," Dembele said.

Mama Dembele Leads Mizzou Women's Basketball in Win Over Northern Alabama