‘We’ll never put a ceiling on how good he can be’: Ever-improving guard TJ Bamba leads Washington State into Pac-12 tournament

LAS VEGAS – TJ Bamba is performing at an elite level, setting the pace for a red-hot Washington State basketball team that’s surging into the postseason. And the Cougs’ standout guard says the best is yet to come.

“I’m still getting better,” said Bamba Saturday, two days after his career day in WSU’s 93-84 win at Washington. “I’m still a work in progress. I’m starting to put it together, but I don’t think I’m there yet. I’m still working at it, and I don’t want to be done.”

Bamba rang up 36 points against the Huskies, setting a new personal scoring record while guiding WSU to its sixth consecutive win to cap its regular season. The fifth-seeded Cougars (16-15, 11-9 Pac-12) open their stay at the Pac-12 Tournament at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday against bottom-seeded Cal at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“We’ve been taking that next step as a team,” Bamba said. “Teams are going to get better as the season goes. We’ve been hitting it hard, practicing hard and getting our chemistry right. We understand the situations and our roles are cemented.”

As the team’s captain, Bamba has settled into a starring role during his junior season after two years as a rotational piece who was known mostly for his contributions on defense. Bamba leads WSU this season at 15.7 points per game.

“I got the opportunity to have a role where I’m able to showcase everything,” he said.

A couple of guards left the program after last season and Bamba adopted expanded responsibilities. “I had a different role in these past years. Opportunity was a big thing, but I also put in a lot of time on my offensive game – floaters, my jumpshot, my ball-handling.

“I feel great on defense. That’s where I started. Defense was the first thing I fell in love with and took seriously to become great at. As a young player, you don’t expect much on the offensive end right away, because you have people ahead of you. When I came in, I carved out a role on defense.”

WSU’s sturdiest perimeter defender, Bamba is now exhibiting a dynamic scoring arsenal, too. He’s a force when driving toward the basket, and he boasts a reliable jumper. Bamba is a high-volume shooter and he’s filling it up at an efficient rate – 43.2% from the field and 36.2% from 3-point range.

“Offensively, I feel like I’m a special talent,” he said. “People who know me know how hard I work. They understand that, any time I’ve got the ball in my hands, I feel confident in what I can do.”

The 6-foot-5, 215-pounder is also averaging career highs in rebounds (3.6 per game) and assists (1.5).

Bamba missed three games in January because of an injury to his nondominant hand. When he returned to the lineup, it took some time to rediscover his shooting touch, and his percentages dipped a bit.

“To be honest, I’m still going through a lot with the hand,” he said. “It’s a daily battle.”

It’s hard to tell, considering Bamba’s production as of late.

He’s averaging 25.7 points and shooting a blistering 60.9% from the field – and 9 of 16 from 3 – over the past three games.

“I know what I’m capable of,” Bamba said. “In my eyes, I’m the most confident person on earth. I really believe in myself. In the moment, I was just trying to win. I didn’t know how many shots I was taking. I was just looking at the scoreboard, ‘Is the score in our favor?’ That’s all that mattered. At the end of the game, people told me I went crazy. It was a cool moment, for sure, versus a rival. Once I woke up the next day, it was over and on to the next.

“It’s a blessing that my teammates look at me as someone to deliver,” he added. “I really appreciate that. It’s from my hard work. They believe I should be the guy to get a clutch bucket. But at the end of the day, I do it all to win. I don’t really care about the (recognition).”

Cougars coach Kyle Smith describes Bamba as a supremely confident player whose work ethic is unmatched.

“We’ll never put a ceiling on how good he can be, because of his attitude and his belief in himself,” Smith said. “He’s willing to bet on himself and try to get better, and prove that he’s not afraid to make mistakes.

“When you have the kind of attitude he has and that kind of work ethic and his pride in the program, you want to invest in those guys,” Smith added.

Of all the players Smith has coached in his 31-year career, Bamba is “right at the top of the list, as far as his investment, being in the gym all the time, routine-wise and work ethic.

“I can’t wait to see what he does with another offseason. I think he makes another jump.”

After completing his prep career at Abraham Lincoln High in Denver, Bamba joined WSU as a three-star recruit in one of the program’s highest-rated recruiting classes.

He earned playing time immediately, appearing in 23 games with four starts as a true freshman. Bamba averaged 5.5 points in 13.7 minutes per game, then emerged as a defensive stalwart during his sophomore year.

“You have to find a way to impact the team without having the ball in your hands,” Bamba said. “In my sophomore year, I understood what the coaching staff expected from me on the defensive end … so I made the jump and became a go-to defender.

Bamba made 16 starts last year, averaging 7.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. He started the final six games of the season, replacing Noah Williams in the lineup – Williams transferred to UW after the season.

“Noah leaving the program probably helped him, opened the door for him to take more of a leadership role on the court and in the locker room, and he really took off,” Smith said. “He put a lot of time in here this summer.”

Heading into his junior campaign, Bamba “lived in the gym.” He stuck around in Pullman for eight weeks and honed his skills, working out two or three times a day.

“The opportunity was there for me to be in the position I’m in today,” he said. “I understood people were leaving and I was going to be one of the main returners, and I had the opportunity to increase my role and be able to showcase my talent, which is what everybody dreams about. It was a crazy summer of work.

“It was a big boost for me to see that my work was paying off. The work paid off from my freshman year to sophomore year. Going into this season, it was, ‘Let’s up the amount of work we put in and see where that gets me.’ ”

Through discipline, desire to grow and a commitment to improving the program, Bamba set a positive example for WSU’s newcomers and earned his title as team captain.

“They understood how much I was bought-in, how hard I worked,” he said. “I’m all about the team. I love my teammates. I’m here for them when things don’t go right. You got a lot of newcomers in different roles. I’m there to talk to them, telling them what I’ve went through. It’s a big-brother role I’m playing for some of them. That’s why they trust me. The coaches trust me and understand that I’m all about family and all about the program.”

Bamba’s unique upbringing

Born in the Bronx, Bamba spent his first seven years in the New York metro before moving overseas for a life-changing period.

For part of his childhood, Bamba lived in Senegal. He enrolled in a boarding school in the West African country, where he studied the Arabic language and the Islamic teachings of the Quran.

“My mom and dad wanted me to learn about my religion, learn the Quran and connect with my people back home, connect with my culture,” he said. “I have a lot – a lot – of family in Senegal.”

The 3½ years in Senegal “shaped who I am today,” he said.

“It gave me morals, a foundation to build my beliefs on,” he added. “My values all connect with the experience I had with my religion. There were nights I cried … because it touched my heart. It shaped me to be a kind, loving person and someone who cares, who gives back and wants to love everybody – someone who’s disciplined and will put his mind to everything. That power is from my belief system, from everything I learned in Senegal.”

When it came time to return to America, Bamba didn’t want to leave his adopted home.

“My mind and feelings shifted. I became Senegalese,” he said.

Back in New York, Bamba picked up basketball as a hobby. He began to take the sport seriously as a teenager. Bamba played his first two seasons of high school ball at KIPP NYC Prep in the Bronx, then made another move.

Bamba hoped to raise his profile as a college hoops prospect, and his mother wanted him to live in a safer area than the Bronx. So, he shipped off to Colorado, where he stayed with family members.

“Mom wanted me to get away and focus, and have somewhere safe where I didn’t have to look over my shoulder,” he said. “She wanted me to go somewhere where (a coach) would believe in me, where I’d have a platform to be great.”

Based on a friend’s recommendation, he enrolled at Abraham Lincoln High in Denver. There, Bamba blossomed into a Division I prospect. He earned all-state accolades after averaging 24 points and 10 rebounds per game as a senior.

WSU’s staff, which had connections in New York, kept tabs on Bamba as he developed in Denver. The Cougars started to recruit him ahead of his senior year.

“We were trying to build a program. Our mantra was, ‘Get guys with great attitude, great work ethic – guys who really want to be here,’ ” Smith said.

Smith watched Bamba play during a summer tournament in Atlanta.

“He jumped out with his athleticism and strength. We just started engaging and he liked what we were saying,” Smith said. “We were like, ‘This is what we’re about. We need guys that want to build this thing … and we think you have potential to do that,’ and he was a good student.

“My biggest thing then was, ‘Pullman is a long way from New York. It’s nothing like New York. Can you handle this?’ And he kept on pushing, ‘I got it, I want to do this.’ He never wavered. … We laid it out there and he chased us down a little bit. We’re lucky.”

Bamba appreciated the “underdog mentality” of the program and valued the opportunity to help build a competitive team at WSU.

“I just wanted to put my all into this program,” he said.