Former Men’s Basketball forward Mustapha Traore has signed a professional basketball deal with the UMF Skallagrimur Bogarnes in Iceland.
Traore graduated from Monmouth University last spring after spending five years with the men’s basketball program. He finished his collegiate career with 611 points and 520 rebounds. He also notched 47 rejections during his time with the Hawks.
Traore was a member of both the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) regular season championship teams, however he did not play his year as a true freshman.
Due to his efforts in college, Traore will now be doing what he loves for a living.
“Being signed to a team and playing professional basketball means everything to me,” said Traore. “These are the things you really dream about as a kid.”
Traore is from Philadelphia, PA and played high school ball at the Phelps School in Pennsylvania where he reached the 1,000-career point marker. He led the team to a 24-6 record his senior year.
After not playing for the Hawks as a true freshman, Traore made his collegiate debut in 2016 as a redshirt freshman. In that season, he played 30 games while averaging 1.7 points per contest. He also tallied a total of seven blocks in his first campaign in blue and white.
In his sophomore season, Traore played in 28 games while starting in 18 of them. He finished the season averaging 3.1 points per game while shooting just under 47 percent from the field. He was second on the team in blocks with a total of fifteen for the season. He also recorded his first double-double in his Monmouth career against Yale.
Traore was the only Hawk that started in all 35 of Monmouth’s games in his third season and finished second on the team in rebounding, averaging 5.3 boards a game as a redshirt junior. He was second on the team in blocks as well with 15 and led the team in field goal percentage. He also finished fourth in scoring on the team as he averaged 7.4 points per game.
Traore also put together an amazing performance in the MAAC tournament in the quarterfinals against rival Quinnipiac.
He scored a career-high 19 points, recorded five rebounds and a steal to help the Hawks defeat the Bobcats 98-92. Monmouth would go on to make the MAAC Championship that season ultimately losing to Iona.
In his final season with Monmouth, Traore was one of two Monmouth players to start in all 31 contests. He led the team in rebounding with 5.5 per game. He had 171 total rebounds, which was good for tenth in the entire conference. Traore averaged 7.1 points per game and had 20 blocks on the season, which was good for second on the team.
Traore’s most notable game in his last season with the Hawks came against Radford when he went off for 16 points and 14 total rebounds while shooting a perfect 6-6 from the stripe. Because of his efforts as a redshirt senior, Traore was named to the MAAC All-Championship team for the season.
After spending five seasons under head coach King Rice’s wing, Traore will be entering the next chapter of his basketball career. “He has a great opportunity in front of him, and he improved on the court and grew as a man so much in his five years here,” said Rice. “This is so great for him in his family.”
Traore will make his professional debut on October 2nd as UMF Skallagrimur Borgarnes will open their season against Fjolnir Reykjavik.
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth Athletics
