Former Real Madrid roommates Ismaila Diagne, Massamba Diop to clash on court when Gonzaga meets Arizona State

TEMPE, Ariz. – When he moved from Dakar, Senegal, to Madrid in 2022, Massamba Diop encountered the usual challenges that come with adjusting to life in a new continent, plus a few more that are more unique to playing high-level basketball thousands of miles from home.

Because of issues with his visa, Diop, now a freshman at Arizona State, did not join Real Madrid’s U-18 team until midway through the 2022-23 season. He was well behind teammates when it came to learning Real Madrid’s offensive and defensive schemes and the 7-foot-1 prospect was not going to make up ground quickly as someone who did not speak a lick of Spanish when he arrived.

His development may have been even slower if not for the friendship Diop built with a Real Madrid teammate and roommate who happened to speak his native tongue of Wolof and was already fluent in Spanish.

Ismaila Diagne was a huge help to Diop back in 2022, but the only assists Gonzaga’s sophomore center is delivering week are the ones he is handing out to coaches in Spokane who are devising a game plan to contain ASU’s leading scorer Friday ahead of a nonconference battle between the No. 19 Zags (3-0) and Big 12 Sun Devils (2-0) at Desert Financial Arena.

Three years removed from their initial encounter in Madrid, Diagne and Diop still communicate on a near daily basis during the offseason, and frequently talk on the phone.

Diagne’s message to Diop when the date of GU’s game at ASU was announced earlier this year?

“Be careful,” he told his ex-teammate.

The 7-foot Gonzaga center recalled his time with Diop at Real Madrid earlier this week in anticipation of Friday’s matchup between their college programs.

Although they both hail from the same region of Senegal and were competitive basketball players in a country not known for producing NBA and college talent, Diop was not on Diagne’s radar until Real Madrid’s general manager texted him in 2022 to let him know the club was recruiting the 7-foot prospect from Dakar.

Given their Senegalese background and knowledge of Wolof, it made sense to pair Diagne and Diop as roommates. Diagne said Diop faced substantial challenges early on learning Spanish while simultaneously trying to integrate on the court with Real Madrid’s highly-competitive Under-18 team.

“Oh it was hard, it was hard,” Diagne said. “It was important for him to fit in with the team at the time, he had some visa problems in the preseason and stuff, so he came probably in the middle half, almost midseason. So for him it was harder to know the system and he didn’t speak Spanish at the time. So I was always the translator and stuff anytime. It was hard for him, but he made it, he made it.”

Diagne and Diop were members of the U-18 Real Madrid team that went 4-0 at the prestigious Adidas Next Generation Tournament in 2023. Diagne posted a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double in a 71-60 victory over Next Generation Select. Real Madrid’s other double-digit scorers in the game included Brooklyn Nets rookie Egor Demin, the eighth overall pick of the 2025 NBA draft, and Hugo Gonzalez, who was taken No. 28 by the Boston Celtics.

Diop played just two total minutes in the tournament, but continued to see his role expand at Real Madrid and occasionally found himself in jumbo lineups with Diagne – the two 7-footers anchoring the U-18 team’s frontcourt.

“He’s tall, but for his mindset he thinks he’s a guard,” Diagne said. “Even when he was in Madrid, he always thought he was a guard. Always being shifty, made some shots, like how guards play. He never had a big (man) mindset and I think that’s great for him. I was watching the game the other day and he was making big numbers.”

Diagne’s referencing ASU’s most recent game against Utah Tech, where Diop led all players with 18 points, making 7 of 12 shots from the field while hitting both of his 3-pointers. On one highlight play that made rounds on social media, Diop caught the ball at the top of the 3-point arc, took one dribble forward, pulled the ball back between his legs and stepped behind the arc for a pull-up 3-pointer.

“We’re going to encourage to keep getting Massamba touches, because he can make some things happen down there and he’s a willing passer,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley said after the Utah Tech game. “Thought his debut was OK, he started challenging shots more. He wasn’t doing that as much in the first half so I was glad to see him try and give us more protection around the basket.”

Diop’s two-game sample size against low-major opponents is not enough to draw from, but the 7-footer’s combination of ball-handling, 3-point shooting and rim protection have already given NBA evaluators reason to monitor ASU games moving forward.

“He has no ceiling,” ASU teammate Moe Odum said of Diop. “He’s through the sky.”

The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie took note of Diop’s performance against Utah Tech, which also included six rebounds and two steals, but offered this disclaimer on X: “Super intrigued by Massamba Diop for Arizona State, but would like to see him play a team ranked inside the top-250 before thinking he’s a 2026 draft prospect. Good news? They get Gonzaga on Friday.”

It should not come as a surprise that Diagne is a believer in Diop’s long-term potential.

“He’s got big potential, he can make it,” Diagne said. “He was saying it’s probably going to be hard for him to fit (at ASU), but I think he’s fitting well with the team and making big numbers. I think he has a big ceiling.”

Diagne hopes there is an opportunity to match up against his friend on Friday. The Gonzaga sophomore is technically third on the team’s center depth chart, but extended minutes have been hard to come by in the first three games. The Zags start games with Graham Ike and Braden Huff on the court and rarely go through stretches where at least one of the veteran bigs is not occupying the ‘5’ spot.

Still, Diagne’s willing to help any way he can, even if his role on Friday is reduced to sharing tips that could help Ike and Huff with the Diop assignment.

“I’m here, I play for Zags so whatever the coaches need from me for him and trying to figure it out,” he said.