VAUGHT: Cisse happy to have Calipari in audience

By LARRY VAUGHT

Having Kentucky coach John Calipari come to the Marshall County Hoopfest Thursday night to watch him play left 6-11 Moussa Cisse of Lausanne Collegiate with a “good feeling” even if his team lost 65-44 to Callaway (Miss.).

“Coach Calipari is one of the big coaches. I was very happy to see him here,” Moussa said. “It doesn’t bother me when a big coach like that comes. It’s good to have him watch me but I am not going to try and do too much just because the coach is here. But I really like it, though, that he was here.”

Cisse showed off his overall athleticism despite an off shooting game. He was 5-for-14 from the field and had 14 points, nine rebounds, five blocks, two steals and one assist. He was just 2-for-7 from 3-point range and also had seven turnovers against Callaway’s collapsing defense.


Cisse is a consensus top 10 player in the 2021 recruiting class and his offer list includes Memphis, Georgia, Michigan, Ole Miss, Georgetown, Florida State, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, St. John’s, Texas, UCLA, Virginia and Texas A&M.

He felt his play was “okay” against Callaway.

“I know I can do better than that. It was kind of like a little bit of pressure and stuff and we just played okay,” Cisse said.

One thing, though, is that he has fun when he plays and even after a turnover — or when he blocked a dunk attempt by Callaway star Daeshun Ruffin — he was always smiling.

“I just play. I don’t like to get mad at myself. It should be fun. That’s how the game is,” he said.

What about when he gave the much shorter Ruffin a pat on the head after the point guard tried to dunk on him?

“I am not going to let nobody dunk on me. He can try but I am going to block it any time,” Cisse said.