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<\/a>\u201cWhen I came to visit [Cal Poly], I just liked pretty much everything,\u201d Mousa said. Credit: Bia Sommers \/ Mustang News<\/p>\nBasketball in Qatar is growing fast in popularity, but the country of just over three million people doesn\u2019t yield the representation in the U.S. that other overseas nations do \u2014 at least not yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Mousa, the game was embedded in his life from a young age. His father, Yassin Mousa, is considered a basketball legend in Qatar, as he was the first player from the Middle East invited to the 2000 Nike Hoop Summit and helped Qatar capture a FIBA 3\u00d73 world title in 2014.<\/p>\n
When he retired from playing in 2016, Yassin became more active in Mousa\u2019s development, serving as a trainer and a resource.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have somebody [like my dad], you just want to follow his footsteps,\u201d Mousa said. \u201cIt helps you and motivates you to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Mousa continued to grow taller and show promise on the court, he began to attract interest from coaches at the NBA Academy in Australia. Mousa was on the academy\u2019s radar since middle school, but stayed in Qatar until he was 15, before taking the leap to chase his dreams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I left home, I knew it was on from there,\u201d Mousa said. \u201dI know I\u2019m gonna stay there for another three years, and then I\u2019m gonna have to go to college and hopefully the NBA one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mousa\u2019s journey to the States<\/p>\n
Mousa spent three years in Canberra, Australia, learning English while simultaneously trying to attract the attention of universities.<\/p>\n
After putting up impressive numbers in Australia and at various camps, Mousa\u2019s agent connected him with staff at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Trusting in his agent\u2019s connections and intrigued by the opportunity to play high-level Division I basketball, Mousa committed to Dayton in the summer of 2024.<\/p>\n
Mousa\u2019s freshman season at Dayton did not go as planned, averaging 1.3 points in a mere 7.6 minutes per game.<\/p>\n
Feeling unsatisfied and looking to take on a bigger role, Mousa entered the transfer portal after his freshman year. With Mousa\u2019s recruitment reopened, his agent contacted another coaching connection, this time Cal Poly\u2019s Mike DeGeorge<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe felt like he didn\u2019t get an opportunity at Dayton, but his other films showed that he could play on pick-and-rolls, and was a good distributor and could handle it,\u201d DeGeorge said. \u201cWe were confident he could be a major contributor for us.\u201d<\/p>\n After conversations with the Cal Poly staff, Mousa traveled to San Luis Obispo to confirm the fit.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I came to visit [Cal Poly], I just liked pretty much everything,\u201d Mousa said. \u201cI like how it never gets cold over here, especially. I got traumatized this last year going to Ohio.\u201d<\/p>\n Less than a year after getting to Dayton, Mousa was officially a Mustang.<\/p>\n Arriving at Cal Poly<\/p>\n DeGeorge\u2019s free-flowing, fast-paced system also appealed to Mousa. The Mustangs currently rank second nationally in adjusted tempo on KenPom<\/a>. The team gets up the court in a hurry and shoots the fifth-most threes in Division I, a perfect fit for Mousa\u2019s propulsive playstyle.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI really like how we play our game,\u201d Mousa said. \u201c[Our] style\u2019s really, really quick, and [we] shoot a lot of threes, which I like to do.\u201d<\/p>\n The six-foot-eight wing has flourished with a change of scenery and has quickly become the number-one option for the Mustangs in his first year at Cal Poly, scoring a conference-best 20.6 points per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mousa\u2019s impressive sophomore campaign has featured a career-high 34 points against CSUN and zero games in single-digit scoring. He\u2019s done it efficiently, too, shooting almost 40% from three on the second-most attempts in the Big West. The lanky guard-forward\u2019s seven-foot wingspan allows him to shoot over defenders and guard multiple positions on the other end. Mousa\u2019s fit with the Mustang\u2019s system prepares him for the next level as well.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really fits my playstyle, how I play, and it\u2019s just fun,\u201d Mousa said. \u201cIt\u2019s just quick, and I could almost compare it to an NBA team. That\u2019s how most NBA teams play.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond leading the conference in scoring and drawing national attention, Mousa\u2019s greatest source of pride is representing his country, as the only current Division I player to do so.<\/p>\n \u201cIt means a lot to me,\u201d Mousa said. \u201cHopefully, my younger brothers are gonna get here too, real soon, and some of my other teammates back home.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>Mousa has played for his national team before, averaging nine points in the 2024 Asia Cup Qualifying Tournament. Credit: Bia Sommers \/ Mustang News<\/p>\n