Lots of times you read about resiliency in sports, and it feels a little manufactured or artificial.
But, trust me, Mustafa Abdul-Hamid is the real deal. Here’s a UCLA basketball player who looks at things the right way, prepares the right way and, when it comes down to the wire, never wavers.
Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion Abdul-Hamid demonstrated all that. With just three seconds remaining, the Bruins surrendered a basket to Washington’s Venoy Overton. They suddenly trailed, 61-60.
This was a moment of basketball chaos, when lots of players ““ and fans ““ entered a state of panic.
Abdul-Hamid simply called for the ball, caught it and knifed toward the top of the 3-point arc. He wasn’t in a hurry. He paused to pump-fake a Husky defender and then, with about .2 seconds remaining, fired a shot.
Swish.
UCLA wins, 62-61.
Pauley went nuts. The Den tried to rush the court, and the UCLA players all sprinted toward Abdul-Hamid. This was the type of elation that UCLA basketball has missed so sorely this season, the type that makes everyone stop worrying about the Bruins’ 8-10 overall record.
And it all amazed me even more, because of a conversation I’d had with Abdul-Hamid after the Bruins’ previous game.
Less than a week I ago I had asked Abdul-Hamid if he was frustrated with the playing time he was receiving. Abdul-Hamid, a fourth-year junior from St. Louis, had played nine minutes that day, and the Bruins’ were thrashed by USC, 67-46. He had not played a single minute in three of UCLA’s first four Pac-10 games.
This is a sensitive subject with athletes, as I’m sure you can imagine. It cuts into their sense of pride and their rationale for devoting so much time and energy to a sport.
Here is how Abdul-Hamid explained how he avoids frustration and discouragement and keeps on grinding.
“It goes back to why you play the game,” he said. “I’ve had to evaluate and re-evaluate that constantly over these four years, and in the past when I was younger.
“You play because it is an opportunity in which you are thrown into the fire. You face disappointment and frustration, and you’ve got to overcome it.”
Abdul-Hamid said he’s motivated to get the details right and to have what he called “a high basketball IQ.”
“I won’t fail to prepare,” he said, echoing John Wooden, the legendary former UCLA coach.
Our conversation touched on Abdul-Hamid’s interest in the Rhodes Scholarship, and his possible return to UCLA for a fifth year. (He has one year of eligibility remaining after this one but has not made a final decision.) The conversation wasn’t filled with the cliches or empty phrases heard so commonly among elite athletes.
Abdul-Hamid is just a hard worker and a really smart player. Announcers always like to attach the “former walk-on” phrase to his name, but at this point it’s kind of silly. Abdul-Hamid has spent four years learning the speed and intensity of college basketball, and UCLA coach Ben Howland has awarded him a scholarship. At this point he’s just a solid college basketball player.
On Friday, people across the country will see the highlight of Abdul-Hamid’s game-winning shot against Washington and think of it as wild and lucky. They fail to consider the hours of practice that he needed to craft his jumper, master his pump-fake or build his poise.
But UCLA fans should know better. Abdul-Hamid has been preparing to take that shot for the last four years, and when the chance came, he was ready.