Ole Miss’ Moussa Cisse talks about the NCAA approving his waiver: ‘…That day was one of the best days of my life’
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss men’s basketball recently received the welcome and long-awaited news that Moussa Cisse, who was battling both a transfer waiver request from the NCAA and an injury, was cleared to play.
On Thursday, head coach Chris Beard and Cisse talked to the the media about the waiver approval and what it means to have Cisse able to compete for the Rebels.
Cisse says he is finally starting to feel like himself after having to miss a couple of practices leading up to his return. He talked about the adversity he faced and how it has affected his game.
“I’m a defensive player,” Cisse said. “I’m always going to be a good defensive player. I know the offense is going to catch up. I was ahead this summer offensively, but not being able to play for a period of time, I don’t have my feels yet. I just have to go over there and play defense and run the floor and do what I can… There’s no pressure. I’m just going to go out there every day and get my feel back,” he added.
Like Moussa mentioned, his defensive presence will be relied on heavily throughout the season. Before Ole Miss, Cisse was named to the Big 12 All-Defensive team two years in a row at Oklahoma State.
Coach Beard explained just how much he thinks of Cisse as a person and a player.
“In a lot of ways, we are building the program around Moussa. He was one of the first recruits who stepped up and trusted the vision of our program.”
Chris Beard on Moussa Cisse
Moussa’s path to playing was not an easy one here in Oxford. The Conakry, Guinea native was forced to sit out five games while he awaited his two-time transfer waiver approval from the NCAA, along with teammate and Georgetown transfer Brandon Murray, who is still waiting to hear his status from the NCAA.
Fortunately, the Rebs got one step closer to having their full roster cleared when Cisse received the go-ahead hours before Ole Miss played North Carolina State last Tuesday. “I feel like that’s the best thing that can happen to you—to be playing basketball,” Cisse said
“Me waiting so long and finding out I was going to play, that day was one of the best days of my life.”
Moussa Cisse
“… Everyone around me was just giving me confidence and making me feel comfortable. The coaches were fighting for me. I just put faith in God and controlled what I can control. I couldn’t control this, so I was waiting patiently,” Cisse continued.
Moussa also credited Murray, who is still not cleared to play, for helping him stay motivated while watching games from the bench.
“Brandon is the one who was giving me confidence, I know he is in a good space right now. He always used to tell me, ‘We are going to get through this,” Cisse said.
Most recently for this Ole Miss team came a nine-point win over Mount St. Mary’s, a game after which coach Beard expressed his frustrations in regards to players’ discipline and perhaps having different expectations.
Moussa says that comfortability has been a factor in the Reb’s lack of execution this season.
“Sometimes guys get too comfortable because we win. We just have to stay the course. We have seven veterans, so we have to step up and keep the team on track.”
Moussa Cisse
Despite the small margin in some of their wins, Ole Miss is still 8-0, has learned from a lot of close games, and remains the only undefeated SEC basketball team.
Moussa praised Coach Beard, giving him a lot of credit for the leadership that he has shown.
“Playing with Coach Beard is a blessing. The little time that I’ve been here, I can just be grateful for him being my coach because of the discipline and the things we do every day. He preaches hard work, and he gives us the motivation and the confidence in all the players. There’s no question why he’s one of the best coaches in the country. Me being one of his players, it’s a blessing.”
Moussa Cisse on Coach Chris Beard
Next Up:
The unbeaten Rebs will return to the court this Sunday in Orlando at 3 p.m. CT to take on UCF. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
Hotty Toddy!
(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss Athletics)
