Mo Dioubate has been a key player for the Kentucky Wildcats, but in recent weeks, it seemed like he was the odd man out. Dioubate averaged just two points in 12.5 minutes during the wins over Mississippi State and LSU. In Baton Rouge, Andrija Jelavic took his place in the starting lineup. However, Jelavic started again against Tennessee, but Dioubate came off the bench to help the Cats make a comeback from a 17-point deficit, ultimately winning 80-78—the biggest win of the season.

Dioubate finished with 10 points and a team-high six rebounds in the victory, which marked Kentucky’s fourth straight win in Knoxville. Eight of those points came in the second half. Although he was only 4-11 from the field, Dioubate led the team in plus/minus efficiency with a +16. The Wildcats struggled against Tennessee’s physicality early on, with Jaylen Carey dominating the matchup against Malachi Moreno. That’s where Dioubate found his role.

Dioubate came in and brought much-needed toughness on both ends of the court, grabbing four offensive rebounds. After the game, head coach Mark Pope expressed his pride in Dioubate’s performance.

“Mo Dioubate, man,” Pope said at his postgame press conference, pausing to collect his emotions. “I can’t tell you, like, I’m so proud of him. Tonight, he just wanted to be him. He wanted to be the greatness that Mo Dioubate is. We’ve talked about it over the course of the year, but when guys love themselves, when they love what they bring, that’s special and magical to this game, then they’re great. He was great tonight. He was unbelievable. His impact on the game was way bigger than his line.”

Dioubate also spoke on the postgame radio show with Goose Givens, opening up about how he has moved past not being in the starting lineup and focused on helping his team win.

“You’ve just got to be a team player to begin with. There’s a lot of adversity, playing at this level or any level, but you’ve got to do what’s best for your team. Do what you do good trying to do it better than anybody else, and other opportunities are going to present themselves when you do that. So just be the team player, and whatever you can do to help your team win, do that, and everything else is going to fall in line with you.”

Dioubate wasn’t the only one who stepped up for Kentucky in Knoxville. Jasper Johnson played a key role at point guard in the first half. After a rough start, Malachi Moreno showed more physicality in the second half, thanks in part to a pep talk from Dioubate.

“I talked to Malachi at halftime. I told him, like, he’s way better than he’s showing right now. We know the kind of team Tennessee is. They play physical, so we have to match their physicality and do even more, so I brought some energy to that. I got some of the guys going. We just got a roll in the second half. We know what time it was.”

The win at LSU kept the wheels on the season. This one could be even bigger when it comes to turning things around, as it was a Quad 1A win that could push the Cats safely off the NCAA Tournament bubble. From here, Kentucky returns home to host Texas and Ole Miss, both winnable games. Dioubate knows how important it is to carry the momentum from Knoxville back to Lexington.

“Ones like this are very important to us. It’s harder to win these games than to win a home game, and it just helps us stay connected as a team, because there’s a lot of adversity that goes on throughout the games. There are a lot of moments where you feel like it’s getting hard. You question yourself, like, are we gonna win? But we all have the same mindset in this game. We didn’t give up. We played together and stayed connected throughout the whole time, and that just helped our confidence in the game, the mentality of not giving up.”

Kentucky still has things to figure out, starting with those big first-half deficits, but Dioubate accepting his role is a big step. Maybe that’s why Mark Pope compared him to Steph Curry during his conversation with Tom Leach.

“Mo’s toughness is a priceless gift,” Pope said. “It’s equivalent to Steph Curry having the greatest stroke in the world, in the sense that his toughness makes him special, just like a guy that Koby Brea makes threes makes him special. And when he embraces his toughness, he changes the whole complexion of the game. And he did that for us tonight.”

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