Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Thik Bol hones basketball skills after escaping civil war in Sudan
01/06/2017 | 1:15:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Thik Bol left his home country to avoid a civil war. He is now the last line of defense as a shot blocking machine for Saluki basketball.
Born in Khartoum, Bol left war-torn Sudan with his mother, Alkeer Deng, for Egypt in 2000. Three years later, they moved to Omaha, Nebraska.
"We would have had to go to war if we stayed there," Bol said. "When you're 13 or 14, you get drafted. Mom didn't want that, so we moved here."
The 6-foot-8 Bol's basketball career started off slowly. He picked up the game in fifth grade but did not become serious about it until his freshman year at Benson High School.
"I was actually bad," he said. "I was on the freshman 'A' team, not even on JV. The next year, that was when I worked really hard, and my sophomore year I started varsity."
As a senior, Bol averaged nine points, three rebounds and three blocks per game for a Benson team that finished 25-4. His grades prompted him to take the junior college route, and Bol started his collegiate career at Iowa Western Community College right across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa.Â
"It's 15 minutes away from our house, so it was a no-brainer for me," he said. "They had a really good program, so they get a lot of good high major schools come and watch them."
He led the nation with 4.9 blocked shots per game as a freshman in addition to 8.9 points and 8.5 rebounds. As a sophomore, he averaged 10.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.3 blocks. The Reivers were 47-14 in Bol's two seasons there.
He said coach IWCC Michael Johnette helped him improve his game by pushing him to work hard every day. Bol said he has had to work even harder since joining the Salukis to be able to keep up with the more physical play of Division I basketball.
Bol averages 9.3 points and ranks 41st in the nation averaging 2.1 blocks. His 34 rejections are five more than Sean O'Brien's team-leading total of 29 last year. Bol had a career-high six blocks versus Mount St. Mary's.Â
"The one thing with the stats everybody wants to talk about is blocked shots, because that's the one stat we keep," Hinson said, "But the biggest thing Thik is doing right now is he's altering shots. It's kind of like in the NFL when you have a hurried sack. It just makes such a big difference."
Bol has developed amazing chemistry with former Iowa Community College Athletic Conference rival Mike Rodriguez, who played two years at Marshalltown. Bol has shown he can finish with authority — 34 of his 65 field goals (52 percent) have been dunks.
"Mike and Thik, they're either related or they're going to have to get married because they work together about as well as anybody I've ever seen," Hinson said. "Thik gets excited when Mike's on the floor, and Mike gets excited when Thik's on the floor."
