By Jaden Lewis

(The Scranton Times-Tribune) — Thousands of miles away in a foreign land with different people, different food and certainly a different climate, Mabor Majak came to the realization that he was no longer in the African country of South Sudan. It’s an experience that he described as a culture shock.

“A lot of things — well, everything was different. The weather was real cold. Where I’m from, it’s within the 80s and 90s all year ’round, so to come somewhere where it could get into the negatives, it was really different for me,” Majak said. “I would go to class with three layers of clothing on. The food was different, and the way people interact.”

Being a Division I college basketball player is tough, and coming from outside the United States presents plenty of unique experiences. The 2022-23 Missouri men’s roster features three players not born on U.S. soil. This is the most going back at least 15 years.

Majak is one of the three players, and along with the difference in the climate and culture, he noticed the difference in the way the school system was structured.

“I believe my first class, when I walked in and one of the things I noticed was students had their phones out in class,” Majak said. “Where I’m from, when you’re in class, it’s like the teacher is a drill sergeant. You can’t really do nothing else but focus on what he’d say, because if you’re not, you’re in trouble.”

It took a while for Majak to phase in, but he eventually did. This was thanks to the heavy emphasis on school in his home country, where he says academics are much more difficult than in the United States. With the country’s main language being English, it also made school much easier.

An opportunity to play in the United States

Majak comes from Juba, South Sudan, where the average temperature is above 90 degrees. The city is populated by more than 500,000 people and is also the nation’s capital. In his youth, Majak faced adversity with his health, which pushed him into athletics.

“Growing up was really difficult. I had a growth spurt, and it kind of took away from my health, and I was really frail. I was about 150 pounds at 6-foot-9, 6-foot-10 when I was 14, and I could barely do anything,” said Majak, who now stands 7-2, 245 pounds. “So that kind of motivated me to do something with my body in terms of getting better. So, basketball kind of became that outlet.”

At age 15, Majak got the opportunity to move to the United States from a distant family relative. He ended up in Indiana, where he played at Hamilton Southeastern in Fishers — where Michael Porter Jr. spent his early years. There, he became a three-star prospect. In his senior season, Majak averaged 11.4 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game while being named co-county player of the year.

Hodge risks being comfortable more than once

D’Moi Hodge’s journey to the United States was a little bumpier. Born and raised in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, his introduction to basketball came at the footsteps of the back door of his family home, in which he lived with his cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and mother.

“We had a community basketball court built behind my house,” Hodge said. “Literally like 10 steps right behind my house. So growing up, me, my cousins and all our friends from the neighborhood would always go to the basketball court.”

Hodge’s grandmother put him into a youth basketball league when he was around 10 or 11 years old, and from then on Hodge was always ahead of the pack, standing out among the competition as the only one of his peers to constantly play the game. He eventually made the move to the United States to live with his cousin Halstead “J.R.” Chiverton.

But being a young teenager far away from home in a foreign land, Hodge became homesick and moved back home one year later.

He played on the high school team and in leagues around the Islands again, but at age 17 he realized that if he was going to accomplish what he wanted, he would have to risk being uncomfortable.

“When I was 17, I decided I wanted to go back so I can pursue my goals, which, at this point, I realized that I was too good to play amongst people in the Islands, so I wanted to make that change and move to America,” Hodge said.

Hodge played his senior year of high school at Faith Baptist Christian Academy in Ludowici, Georgia, a small town of fewer than 2,000 people. Playing at a small school, Hodge attracted plenty of JUCO offers after a successful senior season, but after returning home to the Islands for the summer, disaster struck. Hurricane Irma hit the British Virgin Islands, destroying almost everything in its path, including the airport. This meant Hodge couldn’t leave home until November.

Eventually returning to the United States, Hodge briefly went to a prep school in Jacksonville, Florida, because his offers were gone thanks to the hurricane. He attracted two JUCO offers, from South Georgia Tech and New Mexico Junior College. His visit to South Georgia Tech didn’t go well.

“I ended up going on an unofficial visit to South Georgia Tech, and my phone didn’t have any service, so I was like, ‘I’m not coming here,’” Hodge said.

So it was off to New Mexico, a stay that was short lived. After the head coach got fired, it was back to the drawing board for Hodge. Instead of returning to the Islands, where he feared he would miss calls from coaches, he stayed in Orlando to train with Chiverton. He eventually got a call from State College of Florida, where he committed on the first meeting.

While there, Hodge shined, becoming a JUCO All-American. He averaged 25.2 points in 32 games to go along with 5.1 assists and 2.7 steals per game. In 2020, Hodge was named the 11th-best JUCO prospect by the Junior College Recruiting Rankings.

Gates stands out to Majak and Hodge

Coming out of high school, Majak received multiple offers from nearby schools, according to 247Sports. This included traditional blue blood Indiana, Big Ten powerhouse Purdue, Xavier — a school with plenty of NCAA Tournament appearances — and Bradley. But it was Dennis Gates, a coach in his second year with a mid-major program with little success, who stood out the most.

“I had a couple of different schools recruiting me, and one of the things I had to notice was Coach Gates was the first coach to fly out to come watch me practice out of all the coaches, and … I took notice of that,” Majak said. “We had a couple other conversations after that, and I liked what he said, so I decided to go there.”

As for Hodge, it was Gates who also stood out compared to other college coaches, which led him to Cleveland State.

“Coach Gates was just different. … He never came to watch me work out; he came to my picture day,” Hodge said. “There was like different stuff he did that proves to me that he wasn’t just about basketball, where other coaches were coming to my workouts talking all about basketball.”

After Gates offered Hodge and he ended up committing to the Vikings, Gates went to the British Virgin Islands to meet Hodge’s family, including his mother, father and grandmother.

“That was a big deal for me, because the fact that he took it upon himself to take that trip shows a lot about who he is as a man, as a coach, as a husband,” Hodge said. “He always preached to us about life as a parent, life lessons, life as a man, so just stuff like that just sticks with me.”

This led both Majak and Hodge to the Vikings, where they built a strong and playful relationship. The two feel they can be themselves around each other, crack jokes and have a fun time.

“I can make a joke, and he will never take it serious,” Hodge said when talking about Majak. “I could walk with him and hug him, even when he’s mad, and he won’t be mad. … One of the jokes we had at Cleveland State was he always called me his twin, he’d be like, ‘We the same color,’ so it was just stuff like that we laugh about and we always make it a joke.”

After Gates left for Missouri, there was no hesitation on where Majak was going to go. As for Hodge, he wanted to play at a bigger school for his final season. Kansas State interested him, as the Wildcats had an assistant from the Islands, but he knew what he was getting with Gates.

“I feel like Coach Gates had the best interest,” Hodge said. “I know what he wants, I know what he wants from me, so that’s why I picked Mizzou.”

Suiting up in the black and gold this season, the two were joined by the Tigers’ third international player — Mohamed Diarra. The 6-10 junior forward comes from Montreuil, France. Diarra spent two years at Garden City Community College, becoming the 2021 Kansas Jayhawk Community College player of the year and the 2022 KJCCC co-defensive player of the year, before arriving in Columbia.

“I feel like me and (Mohamed), over the past couple months we’ve been here, have a stronger relationship in the beginning because just finding out what he likes and what he like’s doing,” Hodge said. “I realized Mohamed is one of the people on the team that likes dancing.”

Diarra doesn’t have a car to get around places, so Majak helps him the best he can, and they always go and get food together.

Contributing to a successful season far away from home

Hodge is having an impressive season for the 23-8 Tigers. He’s made the most 3s, broke the single-season record for steals and scored the second-most points on the team. Hodge is 2,179 miles from Tortola but still keeps pieces of home with him. Every time he opens his laptop, there on the lock screen are the blue water and skies of the city he grew up in. He listens to plenty of music from back home to calm his mind, and he talks to his family every day.

Majak saw an increased role in SEC play, with his season-high minutes coming in mid-February against Mississippi State and Tennessee. His family is still 7,752 miles away in Juba. He keeps in touch with them through Facebook and other social media but still keeps focused on basketball and the process.

“(My mindset) has been, ‘Just help the team as much as I can,’” Majak said, “no matter whether it’s been on the bench cheering everybody on or being on the court helping out where I can.”

But while both are far away from home, the Missouri community has welcomed them with open arms.

“We appreciate the fans, we appreciate the community for opening up and open arms,” Hodge said. “To me especially, coming from a third-world country, it’s very hard to make it out of there, and it takes a lot to be away from family for so long and not be able to be around them every day. So the community opening their arms to us and opening their arms to me and giving me a warm welcome and making me feel at home, I’m really grateful for that.”