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For Momo Cissé, the journey has been long and winding. But the focus and the goal never veer.
“I’m on this mission. I play for my momma,” said Cissé, an incoming member of the Putnam Science Academy prep basketball team. “I lost her in 2017. I will do everything I can, get better every day, to go to the NBA and take care of my family and my friends. It’s for my momma.”
Cissé started as a soccer player growing up in Dakar, Senegal, kicking the ball around with his mother, Adja Soukey Samba, and his three siblings. (He said he was the closest to his mother – and the favorite – because he was the youngest.) But when he started a growth spurt in 2017, his brother Ibrahima suggested basketball would be the path to follow. He went from 6-foot, 1-inch then, to 7-feet now.
He first participated at the SEED Academy, a basketball student-athlete academy in Senegal. He went to the NBA Africa Academy for a short time as well before heading off to Monaco, where he lived and played hoops for about a year-and-a-half. Cissé was there when Covid hit, and said the government there was sending non-citizens back to their countries. Rather than go back to Senegal, he made his way to the U.S.
He has a friend in New York City who helped get him to the States, and put him in touch with the coaches at Hillcrest Prep just outside of Phoenix, which features a national-power basketball program. After playing there during the second semester of last season, Cissé committed to Oakland University. In mid-August, he decommitted, saying he wanted to gain more exposure and more offers, then quickly landed at PSA.
The big dream, he said, is to get an offer to play in the G-League, which is the minor league organization of the NBA. That dream seemed far off as he remembered the first time he played basketball.
“I wasn’t any good. No, no,” he said. “It was very difficult. I blocked shots, that was it. I was tall, so I blocked shots. I didn’t know how to shoot the ball.”
Though Cissé said he can handle the ball with confidence and is comfortable shooting it from all the way back to the 3-point line, Mustangs coach Tom Espinosa believes his offensive game remains a work in progress. Don’t expect to see Cissé floating around the perimeter too often, as Espinosa fully anticipates using him inside.
And inside on the defensive end is where Cissé, who says he patterns his game after his favorite player Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers, figures to make his greatest impact.
“Momo is the type of player we didn’t have last year, but our championship teams have had guys like him<” Espinosa said. “Guys who can close down the lane, who can protect the rim, and block shots. We had (Mohamed Sanogo) last year, but he didn’t play a whole lot, so we were missing that defensive presence in the middle. We expect Momo to play a lot of minutes and have a big role for us. I think he can be a high Division I guy because of his ability to block shots.”
Cissé had already begun playing basketball when his mother fell ill. But she never saw him play.
“It’s OK because I know she is here,” he said, putting his hand over his heart. “She is still with me. Before she died, when she was in the hospital, I don’t know how to say it the best way in English, but she said ‘Momo, you have to prove yourself, and I want you to do it for me.’ I’ll never forget that moment. That’s why I am doing this, for my momma.”
By Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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