Dutchman far from home: David N’Guessan is living his hoop dreams at Kansas State
While most of his teammates were heading home to relax and spend time with family around Christmas, David N’Guessan had other plans for the holidays.
“I will be in Manhattan,” he said in late December, “staying in the gym and getting ready for conference play.”
In a perfect world, N’Guessan would have joined his fellow Kansas State Wildcats for a short winter vacation. Who wouldn’t like to unplug and visit their loved ones for a few days? But that was not an option for him. Why? Well, it’s impossible for the 6-foot-9 senior forward to visit home during basketball season because he grew up overseas in The Netherlands.
He was happy to stay on campus, though.
Basketball became his top priority the moment he decided to leave his home country and enroll in a Baltimore prep school when he was 17.
“That was definitely a hard thing for me to do, but at the same time I knew I had to leave if I wanted to go to college and play basketball,” N’Guessan said. “It was very hard leaving my family and my brothers behind, but I knew what my goals were and I could only do that in America.”
His dedication is starting to pay off.
N’Guessan has been on an absolute tear since the calendar turned to 2024. The athletic big man scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help K-State defeat West Virginia on Tuesday. Before that, he had five points and 14 rebounds in the team’s Big 12 opener against UCF.
Add in 12 points and nine rebounds against Chicago State, plus another 13 points and nine rebounds against Wichita State and he has nearly averaged a double-double (11.8 points and 8.1 rebounds) during the Wildcats’ current four-game winning streak, which has them at 12-3 overall and 2-0 in the Big 12.
He wasn’t joking when he said he would be getting ready for conference play while his teammates were opening presents.
Playing with confidence far from home
K-State basketball coach Jerome Tang is not surprised. He made N’Guessan one of his first recruiting priorities when he was hired by the Wildcats, and he has expected big things from him since the moment he convinced him to transfer here from Virginia Tech.
Even when N’Guessan got off to a slow start this season, and looked like a non-factor in certain games, Tang never lost trust in his veteran forward.
After watching N’Guessan help the Wildcats win 26 games and reach the Elite Eight last season, and then play well over the summer for The Netherlands’ national team, Tang was convinced hard work would eventually pay off for N’Guessan.
This is a basketball player who routinely stays after practice to make an extra 300 free throws or jump shots. All he needed was a confidence boost.
“We kind of showed him some film and talked about the way he played this summer and how confident he was playing with his international team,” Tang said. “We wanted him to get back to that, because he’s a good basketball player.”
If N’Guessan can continue playing at this level, the Wildcats like their chances of finishing in the top half of the league standings and making another push for the NCAA Tournament.
K-State has always been able to count on N’Guessan doing all the little things right. Few players in the Big 12 are more fundamentally sound or willing to set screens in order to get a teammate open. But now he is also putting up impressive stats.
The Dutchman is doing it all.
Choosing basketball in a country that loves soccer
This is what N’Guessan envisioned when he decided to pursue a career in basketball.
But it wasn’t an easy journey to this point. It would have been easier for him to play soccer. After all, that is a much more popular sport in The Netherlands. So much so that most outdoor basketball courts contain soccer goals. N’Guessan and his three brothers had to arrive early to keep the footballers away.
Even then, it was rare for any friends to join in. He grew up mostly playing two-on-two.
“It’s flipped around with how soccer is over here,” N’Guessan said. “Basketball just isn’t really that big. But I had older brothers who played basketball so we had some really competitive games. But if you wanted to play a sport with a lot of people and just go at it all day at the park the only choice was soccer.”
Don’t get N’Guessan wrong, he dabbled in soccer and can hold his own on the pitch. He is willing to bet that he is the best men’s soccer player currently enrolled at K-State.
But basketball is his dream. It has been ever since he grew tall and watched his older brother, Lucas, play at both Oklahoma State and East Tennessee State. He now plays for a professional team in Spain.
Sure, N’Guessan doesn’t get to visit home as much as his teammates, people look at him weird when he speaks Dutch and his mother has only watched him play a few games inside Bramlage Coliseum. But he doesn’t regret anything about his journey, especially now that he is playing at a high level for the Wildcats.
This has become his second home.
“The best thing about being at K-State is how much love you get compared to a basketball player back home,” N’Guessan said. “In the Netherlands, they don’t really know you for that but here everybody loves you for it and recognizes you. They all want to say hi or get a picture or get a signature. They are all real thankful for what I do for their school, and I am definitely appreciative of that.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Dutchman far from home: David N’Guessan is living his hoop dreams at Kansas State."