Spellbound, the players from the Lawrence-heavy U16 Run N’ Gun AAU boys basketball team rode along in a van to Iowa and listened to their coach from Senegal tell them of the time he had to prove his courage to tribal leaders.

“He told us how they had to hunt a tiger and bring back the tiger head to prove to them how brave he was,” Free State High junior-to-be Cameron Dabney said. “He told us he wants us to show the same courage when we play basketball.”

The “he” in question is Moulaye Niang, the 6-foot-10 former Kansas University basketball player trying his hand at coaching for the first time.

Never mind that Niang made up the story about killing the tiger. It made his players more eager to try to impress their coach from a land so foreign to them. They’ll all have a good laugh over it some day. Probably today.

Dabney and fellow Free State High students Steve Allen, Levi Baker, Brett Frantz, Kameron Sharp and Ian Zylstra and Lawrence High’s Logan Henrichs are lucky to have Niang as a coach. He played for two of the nation’s top college basketball coaches, and the knowledge he absorbed from Roy Williams and Bill Self he passes along to his players.

Of more importance, Niang serves as a reminder that although basketball is a blast to play, life is all about balance. All but very few must make a living outside of basketball, and Niang is no exception.

An accountant, Niang works for Associate Wholesale Grocers as an internal auditor. He proudly shares that he will earn his masters in business administration from the KU Edwards campus in December.

The man has goals.

“I want to get to the third floor,” he said. “That’s where the VPs are.”

Niang’s team faced a bigger, stronger, more athletic, more skilled team from Texas on Friday night at Free State. Texas Assault won by 30 points, but was up by just a point at the half.

Niang’s team is on the small side, but he does not accept that excuse.

“He told us about when he played in the state championship (in California, after moving from Senegal), little guys, about 5-6, boxed him out and hurt his knee, and he was out for the whole state championship, and he said that was the hardest thing because he felt like he let his team down,” Dabney said. “He said he was too relaxed and too nervous to go for the rebound, and the kids were just really aggressive. That’s how he wants us to play, really aggressive, even though we’re undersized.”

In an age when parents tend to shelter children from adversity, Niang’s life story lets them know hurdles can be cleared.

“He told us his story, coming from Senegal to here, transitioning, not speaking much English, living with a host family in San Diego, having to change his whole lifestyle,” Frantz said.

Niang is pondering another change, from the business world to coaching.

“If it works, great,” Niang said. “If it doesn’t work, I already have a career.”