By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Before the last Round of this year’s Basketball Champions League Regular Season, the permutations were simple. If Darussafaka beat VEF Riga at home, then they were heading to the Play-Ins as the 3rd-classified team in Group C; otherwise, on the other hand, the Latvians would have advanced.
Starting the season 2-0, the Turkish team was looking like the perfect competitor to the two-time champions of Lenovo Tenerife. However, things started to complicate themselves as time passed by, with Todd Withers, David McCormack, Kyle Allman, and Mason Jones all leaving the team.
With the guests producing a 14-0 run to start the second quarter and keeping the lead until the last ten minutes of the game, Darussafaka seemed closer than ever to a disappointing and early elimination, but then Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman happened. “It was basically an elimination game. We knew we had to come out and play hard, so I started it being aggressive”, he said interviewed by Eurohoops.
His game, in reality, started with 4:21 to go in the first quarter, when VEF Riga was already up 12-5 on the road. Missing a three-pointer earlier, he had a step back to finally heat himself up. “I knew I might have a hot hand that night, because usually when you make your first shot you’re feeling pretty good, and you’re comfortable. It was in rhythm, and I just went from there”, he commented.
Well, he was correct. Not only did he make Darussafaka survive with back-to-back three-pointers off the dribble in the last moments of the whole elimination game, but he concluded the encounter with a career-high night of 33 points (7/11 from three-point range) and 41 of PIR – with 6 rebounds and 6 assists as well -, which gave his team the pass to the next stage.
Bringing Michigan’s experience overseas
It may sound strange, but Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman’s career didn’t really switch on the court. The moment that really changed his life, in fact, came in March 2017, when the Michigan Wolverines basketball team was heading to the NCAA Big Ten Tournament.
Sliding off the runaway, their airplane was then very damaged, but luckily nobody on the team suffered injuries, and they went on to win it all after that accident. “The culture changed in that moment. We were playing well, but right after that, it all shifted. You take life for granted, but when something like that happens, you truly realize you need to take care of yourself and have fun. It’s the reason why you fall in love and you start playing the game of basketball. Because… it’s fun”, he said.
Despite the unfortunate circumstance, if it wasn’t for that plane accident they probably wouldn’t have achieved something memorable later on. That team had future NBA players on board like Duncan Robinson and Mo Wagner, in Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman’s junior season, before they went all the way to the Championship Game against Villanova, losing it in 2018.
The now 29-year-old guard is a legend of the school, but the group was the reason why they went that deep in the NCAA. “It was a family. It all started with Caris LeVert. Even on my first visit, he was the nicest person. He was on the Draft Board, he would have probably been a potential lottery pick, but he was so humble, always talking to everybody and passing on the torch as I got older”, he commented.
Unable to make it to the NBA being undrafted in 2018 despite his name being all over the place when talking about college basketball, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman moved to the Canton Charge in the G-League, where he spent two seasons sharing the locker room with current overseas players like John Holland, Jaron Blossomgame, Malik Newman, JaCorey Williams, and Bonzie Colson.
Out of everybody on that team, however, the closest he’s to is Levi Randolph, who was named MVP of December in the Basketball Champions League, headlining a Team of the Month which included Abdur-Rahkman as well. Talking about the ones who made it further, he’s trying to follow their steps. “You see their experiences, and it’s motivating to me. I try to pick their brain and get to their level”, he said.
🌟 #BasketballCL Team of the Month 🌟
Who will be crowned MVP of December?➡ https://t.co/kpLKt1T2b4 pic.twitter.com/FqSCMGS0rh
— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) December 28, 2023
Living the Basketball Champions League with Darussafaka
Before choosing Darussafaka, he had the opportunity to move somewhere else after his superstar Italian season with Pesaro. “There were a couple of teams interested in me in the EuroCup, but I felt this was the right step. Turkey is such a good league as well to showcase the talent and go up against better players”, he commented on the Turkish basketball league, where he has some friends.
One of them is Nigel Hayes-Davis, with whom he trains during summertime despite hating his music choices. “One of the things that I always mess with him up is that he listens to classical music when we’re working out. Man… it’s okay sometimes, but you gotta switch that up sometimes”, he joked about the current Fenerbahce‘s small forward.
Unlike his former teammates who left, some even staying in Turkey like Kyle Allman (to Besiktas) and David McCormack (Galatasaray), he decided to stay on the black-and-green side of Istanbul. “I decided to stay because it’s still a good situation, it’s still the Basketball Champions League. The goal is to continue moving on to the next level, whether it’s EuroCup or EuroLeague. This was the best step possible to keep on the same path as what I wanted to achieve”, the guard shared.
Averaging 16.2 points – 24.0 in the last two games against VEF Riga and Cholet – per game, the Michigan Wolverines alumni has been dragging the Turkish team on his back, growing and receiving the coaching staff’s trust. In a recent interview with Eurohoops, Darussafaka’s head coach and former Anadolu Efes‘ assistant Yakup Sekizkok praised his attitude. “When coaches want you to succeed, you always work at your best. He’ll push you to keep going. That’s what we have here: Yakup [Sekizkok] is a great coach, it’s his first year but to have a coach that was at the level you want to get to, helps. He gives me a lot of responsibility. That’s when you play at your best”, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman said about him.
Considering his background, the 29-year-old guard believes Darussafaka’s head coach is more than prepared to have a successful head coaching career. “When you’re an assistant coach for that long, you pick up little things. Especially from a coach like [Ergin] Ataman, you take details that you believe are appropriate for yourself, and you fit them in your personal identity, applying them. The best coaches and players are sponges: you have to learn what to take from other people and apply it to their values, morals, and philosophy. At the end of the day, there’s still their own person. Yakup [Sekizkok] does a great job in mixing these two sides”, he then commented about his current head coach.
During the Basketball Champions League Regular Season, he faced Cholet Basket, with the upcoming 2005-born Tidjane Salaun. “He’s playing really well. The thing I like about him it’s his attitude: he’s playing hard the whole game. Whether he’s with or without the ball, he’s doing little things to impact winning. That’s what helps him the most because as you get to the highest level your role might be a little bit smaller. You can showcase that you can be a scorer, and then also do other stuff: that helps you”, he said about the umpteenth new generation French talent.
Other than the French team, he went up against Tenerife, where he faced the Brazilian legend. “[Marcelinho] Huertas is such a general out there on the court, he gets everybody involved but also scores himself. You see him on TV when he used to play for the Lakers, and he’s such a great career. Sharing the court and competing against him was amazing”, he said.
Finally, against the Latvian team, his attention was captured by two players. “One is Isaiah Piñeiro: tough defender, strong, plays hard. You can always appreciate guys like that. And then Arnaldo Toro Barea, he’s just a monster on the glass. Those second-chance points: any coach would have him on that team. It’s tough preparing a game plan against such a dude. I don’t want to discredit him for what he did”, he finally touched on his opponents.
Bringing in James Woodard and former VEF Riga’s guard Brendan Adams, Darussafaka will now have to challenge MHP-Riesen Ludwigsburg, where Jayvon Graves has been stealing the show with 19.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game in Germany.
Heading to the clash with the black-and-yellow side, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman praised the 25-year-old guard. “I watched a little bit of their last game against AEK. Jayvon Graves is a good player, dynamic, gets everybody involved and can score off the dribble. When you play against guys like this it’s always tough, because they can hurt you in so many ways. We have to watch a little bit more film and organize a plan. Everybody’s got one once you get to the game”, he finally commented.
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PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League