NEWARK, N.J. — The pick-up courts in Queens don’t take any prisoners. Mo Dioubate learned that the hard way during his early basketball days on the mean streets of New York.

It’s where the Alabama forward’s blue-collar spirit was born.

“It gave me the dog mentality,” Dioubate told Tide Illustrated last week. “Playing in the park every day, it builds character. When adversity hits, especially when you’re playing outside, you can’t run anywhere. You’ve got to stick and fight.”

Dioubate earned his manhood on the court at the age of 13. Playing alongside his older brothers, he faced off against competition more than twice his age. That included one man in his 30s, who attempted to rough the young forward off the court.

“He was fouling so hard, and he didn’t want to give me the foul call,” Dioubate recalled. “He was like, ‘If you’re not going to man up, get off the court.’ I’m like, ‘I’m not getting off,’ so he said ‘stop complaining.’ Ever since then, I’ve just played hard and tried not to complain.”

Dioubate is the embodiment of the blue-collar style Nate Oats has established at Alabama.

The 6-foot-7, 215-pound sophomore doesn’t start for the Crimson Tide but has earned the team’s Hard Hat Award 13 times this season, five more than any of his teammates.

The Hard Hat Award is presented every game to the player with the most blue-collar points — a metric Oats invented to chart hustle plays. So far this season, Dioubate has earned 522.5 blue-collar points despite playing in just 560 minutes. That 0.93 per-minute average eclipses the 0.75 mark held by Herbert Jones in 2020-21 when the now NBA starter earned SEC Player of the Year honors for Alabama.

Dioubate’s latest Hard Hat came during Alabama’s first-round win over Robert Morris, as he recorded a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds to go with a block and a steal.

That wasn’t the first time the Tide has needed the gritty forward to pull it over the line in the NCAA Tournament either. Dioubate saved Alabama’s season last year, coming up with 9 points, five rebounds and a pair of blocks off the bench to help the Tide avoid a second-round upset against Grand Canyon.

“When it's March Madness, it comes down to the wire its win or go home, and Mo D he plays like that every game," guard Mark Sears said. "Nothing new for Mo D. Just Mo D doing Mo D things.”

Alabama has grown accustomed to seeing “Mo D things” on the court over the past two years. However, his hard-nosed nature is roughly a decade in the making.

One missed shot was all it took for Rob Diaz to know that Dioubate was different.

Diaz, a retired New York detective who now coaches his own non-profit basketball program, NYC Finest, has worked with Dioubate the past seven years. The two first met while Diaz was refereeing one of Dioubate’s games heading into the forward’s eighth-grade year.

Back then, Diaz worked as an assistant for Queen’s John Browne High School where Dioubate was set to attend. One of his fellow assistants pointed out the forward to him, telling him he was one to keep an eye on.

“There was something about him that just kind of struck me,” Diaz said. “He played hard, and it was like the game came naturally to him. You could tell that he had such a huge ceiling for development that was to come in the near future. There was something about him that came across. I just saw a kid who played hard but have fun with it, too.

Diaz was impressed with Dioubate’s hard-nosed approach on the court, but he was truly hooked while watching the then-14-year-old play in an under-16 league a few weeks later.

“I remember them putting him in and he took one shot, I think it was around the elbow area, missed, and he was quickly taken out,” Diaz recalled. “And I could see it in his eyes, like he was just, like, in his eye, you just can see that he is basically saying, ‘I just need an opportunity.’ He had that hunger in him. I never forgot that.

“He's a kid that just wants to grind. He loves the grind. He loves the challenges. He just needed the opportunities.”

Diaz gave Dioubate that opportunity, coaching him through his early high school career while also taking him on at NYC Finest. Together, the two won back-to-back Lincoln Park Classics from 2021-22.

The first of those titles came during the summer after Dioubate’s sophomore season of high school. While the young forward had yet to ascend to star status, it was his blue-collar tendencies that carried the team throughout its championship game.

“​​Mo was like the difference maker,” Diaz recalled. “Every time the other team was on a run, Mo was there. They’d get close, and here comes Mo with a block, a rebound, a put-back. Those are moments, to me, that it just shows that he's always been that guy that embraces doing a lot of the dirty work. Maybe it's not noticed by a lot of people, because a lot of people focus on the points, but it takes a lot of pride.”

Diaz says the goal of NYC Finest is to create networks and pipelines for Queens prospects to reach bigger programs and further develop their talent. He was able to do that for Dioubate, who later transferred to Connecticut’s Putnam Science Academy where he became the team’s all-time leading rebounder en route to earning New England Player of the Year and winning the National Prep Championship.

“He helped me a lot, man,” Dioubate said of Diaz. “He gave me a lot of advice. He led me the right way.”

Diaz likes to think a least some of the blue-collar discipline he developed over his 23 years in the New York Police Department rubs off on all of his players. With Dioubate, there isn't a question.

“He used to tell me before every game, ‘Try to get the most rebounds, be the hardest-playing person on the court,’” Dioubate said of Diaz. “That kind of just reminds me every day, every time I step on the court to be the hardest-playing person out there.”

This season, that hard work is paying dividends. Through 35 games, Dioubate is averaging 7.5 points, 6.0 rebounds while shooting 62.8% from the floor, including 48% (12 of 25) from 3 over 16 minutes per game. Those numbers have gone up during the NCAA tournament, where he is averaging 14.0 points and 7.5 rebounds while shooting 12 of 15 (80%) from the floor and 4 of 4 from deep.

Dioubate’s breakout sophomore season comes after a quiet first year at Alabama where he averaged 2.9 points and 2.4 rebounds over just 7.7 minutes per game. While the limited role might have drawn other young players to the transfer portal, it led Dioubate to the gym.

Diaz, who checks in with Dioubate at least one time a week, said the thought of transferring was never on the table. Instead, he often found his former player at the gym working relentlessly on his shot.

“Mo is a tough kid, and he's very mentally driven to the things he wants,” Diaz said. “He's not looking for a way out. He's looking for a way in. The thing with him is, he understands the process, what it takes, so he just basically takes it one step at a time.

“And that’s the beautiful thing about him. He just embraces the moment, even in tough moments, even in games they might not have played as well. It all goes back to that 14-year-old kid playing U-16. He’s just always looking for that next time he’s given a chance.”

This next chance is a big one for Dioubate.

After winning the first two rounds of the East Regional in Cleveland, No. 2 seed Alabama moved onto the Sweet 16 where it will play No. 6 seed BYU on Thursday in Newark New Jersey, roughly 45 minutes away from Dioubate’s childhood home in Queens.

“It’s close enough,” Dioubate said. “I can’t wait to go back home, man. I want to play in front of my family, my friends. There’s a lot of my supporters out East, so they’ve got an opportunity to come watch me play. Alabama is 14 hours away, and not everyone is able to fly out there.”

Dioubate is currently campaigning to scrouge up extra tickets from his teammates for what figures to be a large supporting section inside Prudential Center. Thursday’s game will mark the first time his father will get to see him play live this season. Dioubate’s mother and siblings are also going to make the short trip. Diaz said he will do his best to be in attendance as well.

As for what to expect from Dioubate, he plans to put on a show. And in typical New York fashion, he’s not taking any prisoners on the court.

“I try to put on for my city every time I can, man,” Dioubate said. “I’m going to put on for my city. Shoutout to Queens.”