Need a handshake? Turn to these Kentucky basketball players for help
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- UK basketball players Malachi Moreno and Mo Dioubate have handshakes with their teammates.
- Some of these handshakes are featured during UK’s pregame introductions.
- Kentucky opens the NCAA Tournament against Santa Clara on Friday in St. Louis.
Mo Dioubate will play a major role in the moments just before Kentucky basketball begins its latest NCAA Tournament journey on Friday against Santa Clara.
Dioubate has embraced his role as a bench player for the Cats this season, bringing energy and physicality when his number is called as one of Kentucky’s first substitutes.
But his move from expected starter at power forward to reserve came with an additional responsibility.
Dioubate is Kentucky basketball’s “handshake guy.”
He’s the man at the end of the player tunnel that greets each of UK’s five starters when their name is announced in the arena prior to tip.
Each Cat will rise from their seat on the bench, walk slowly toward Dioubate and then begin an individualized handshake routine with the 6-foot-7 junior from New York City.
This wasn’t how things went to start the season.
UK freshman big Malachi Moreno started the season on the bench and with the duties of dapping up each of his teammates pregame.
“I have a handshake with pretty much everybody in the organization,” Moreno said after one early-season game. “I take pride in it, too.”
Moreno’s love for signature handshakes comes from his basketball upbringing. It began with his brother Michael, a former star player at Scott County High School and Eastern Kentucky.
“Me and my brother, we have like 30 different handshakes that we do,” Moreno said. “And I think that kind of rubbed off on me, and now I just want to have a handshake with everybody.”
But head coach Mark Pope moved Moreno in UK’s starting lineup in late November and hasn’t looked back since. Nor should he, with Moreno earning all-freshman team honors from the SEC’s coaches.
So the handshake duties have gone to Dioubate, who stepped into the role while he was out with a high ankle sprain and torn ligament in the fall.
“I guess I’m just the cool guy,” Dioubate said. “I’ve got handshakes with a lot of my teammates. They just chose me to be the handshake guy because I guess I’ve got the best handshakes on the team. It’s cool, just having different handshakes with all of them. It’s a cool thing that we do.”
For all the injury woes that have befallen this UK basketball season, the Cats have kept their starting lineup intact for the past two months. Pope has used the same starting five for the past 15 games.
Despite the consistency, Dioubate’s handshake routine hasn’t been without errors.
“I messed one up with Jelavic,” Dioubate said with a laugh. “We made one right before the game, and we both kind of messed it up. It’s all good. We fixed it right after.”
Kentucky’s handshake masters each has a favorite routine.
Moreno’s favorite is with Nick Robinson, Kentucky’s director of operations, who sits next to Pope on the UK bench during games.
“It’s simple” Moreno said. “All it is, is a gentleman’s shake.”
Dioubate’s personal choice is his pregame routine with senior guard Otega Oweh.
“I came up with most of the handshakes that I have with (my teammates),” Dioubate said. “I just think of them off the top of my head, and we just make it up right there.”
Pope frequently mentions the importance of positive body language in games for the Cats. Kentucky associate head coach Alvin Brooks III is actually deputized with grading Kentucky players in this category each game.
It may seem like a small thing, but when UK takes the floor against upset-minded Santa Clara on Friday, the Cats will be hoping their pregame handshakes put them in a position for success.
This story was originally published March 20, 2026 at 4:30 AM.
