UWG Basketball: Who is Deng Nhial?

Being a student athlete at UWG is not worth taking for granted; Deng Nhial, #2 on the UWG Men’s basketball team knows this. As a UWG graduate student looking to earn his masters in sports management, Nhial has embraced every moment since he stepped foot on campus. 

   Nhial came to West Georgia from Arlington, Virginia his freshman year. He played high school basketball at Wakefield High School and attended prep school at Cheshire Academy. Before committing to play for Coach Moore, Nhial knew that he wanted to be in an environment where he could be around good people and teammates. 

   “What I was looking for when making a college decision was just going to a school where I could easily get along with the team, coaches and everybody else outside of that,” said Nhial. 

   Nhial has had some big moments in his career at UWG. He scored a career high 31 points against Shorter University in his junior year. Hwas a key contributor to the Wolves making it to the NCAA Division II tournament last season as he averaged 13.5 points a game.

  “It’s really hard for me to pinpoint what personal experiences were best for me as a basketball player here,” said Nhial. “Things are still going along as we still have in-season games to play and what not. I think once I’m fully done playing college basketball, then I’ll truly know what moment meant the most to me.”

  The journey as a college basketball player for Nhial wasn’t easy. He has been through the ups and downs as a college athlete. However, it has given him a sense of gratitude for the game of basketball. He has learned a lot from being at UWG not only as a basketball player but as a person.

    “Being here in West Georgia has taught me that you have to be able to push through,” Nhial said. “I had to sit out my first year at UWG. I had to get surgery on my knee and sit out that whole year. I was finally able to play again going into sophomore year then I got surgery on my other knee.

“It’s really just a matter of having perseverance,” continued Nhial. “You can’t get too down on yourself. You just have to face the circumstances at hand.”