Kansas State University Athletics
The Rebirth of Abdi Bashir Jr.
Nov 07, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
"It's your birthday?" PJ Haggerty says.
"Man, why didn't you tell anybody it's your birthday?"
Abdi Bashir Jr. nods his head, almost somewhat bashful.
"Mannnnn," Bashir says. "I'm not going to go around and tell everybody it's my birthday."
This is the introduction to Bashir, who we were told about just moments ago, when, standing inside the innards of the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas State associate head coach Matt Driscoll discussed the many admirable virtues of a 6-foot-7, 175-pound guard from Omaha, Nebraska, who arrived in Manhattan in April after two standout seasons at Monmouth.
Bashir, who's been 22 years old for roughly eight hours, is shy. He is humble. And he certainly won't tell you that he led the nation with 3.85 3-pointers per game or that his 127 total 3-pointers were the second most made by a college basketball player last season.
And there's a reason for it.
"Abdi is probably a better human being than he is a player," Driscoll says. "He's just the soil of the earth, humble, quiet at first, comes into the office, wants to share, wants to smile, wants to be a regular person, so to speak."
Driscoll breaks into a smile.
"Yet when you get him on the floor," he says, "Abdi is all about winning."
When it came time for Abdi to celebrate birthdays with his twin brother, Abdul, it was all about brotherly competition. Normally close brothers despite the distance between them — while Abdi is in Manhattan, Abdul is beginning his junior season at Auburn after playing two years at Casper College — the brothers growing up fiercely disliked each other one day out of the year: Their birthday.
"Favorite birthday story?" Abdi says. "When I was young, me and my brother would fight on every birthday, so I might have to find him today, so we can fight. We never liked sharing birthdays."
Abdi pauses.
"Birthdays are all right," he says. "But I wish I was in the gym."
It's October 21, and today is a rebirth of sorts, a celebration for Abdi, who is wearing all official K-State basketball attire publicly for the first time at the Big 12 Basketball Media Day, and who embarks upon his first season of basketball while playing for a Power 4 school. There's no cake, no candle, but plenty of supporters.
Along with the gift — the gift of getting this grand opportunity to display his talents on the biggest stage and in arguably the deepest conference in Division I basketball.
"Yeah, this is a rebirth, a little bit," Bashir says, walking slowly toward an ESPN interview room. "I'm loving my experience at K-State so far."
Last season, Bashir put up 20 points against Michigan State in his first career start at Monmouth. Playing against potential NBA lottery picks Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, Bashir sank 10 3-pointers and scored 38 points on Rutgers — the highest point total by a visiting player at Rutgers since 1977 — and days later he earned Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week honors with a 25-point effort against Northern Illinois. Then he nailed six 3-pointers en route to scoring 28 points against Seton Hall.
Bashir finished 16th in Division I with 20.1 points per game and 25th nationally with 663 points, and he recorded 13 20-point efforts and five 30-point performances. He sank at least five 3-pointers in 12 games, and he hit eight 3-pointers in back-to-back contests.
Not bad for a kid from Omaha who everybody counted out.
"I wasn't recruited much," Bashir says. "People said I was too skinny. They wouldn't take a chance on me."
But what Monmouth head coach King Rice saw in Bashir is precisely what K-State head coach Jerome Tang instantly spotted on film when the Wildcats' coaching staff assessed potential talent to join the team for the 2025-26 season.
"When I entered the transfer portal, K-State hit me up immediately," Bashir says. "It was a quick conversation. They pursued me a lot. They made me feel like a great person, they valued me, and they showed me everything they wanted to do. It was an easy decision."
After Bashir settled in at K-State, it was difficult to keep him out of the gym.
"Abdi Bashir is the best shooter in America," Tang says on stage in front of hundreds of reporters at T-Mobile Center. "When he shoots it, it goes in. The results, right? His work ethic, I walk into the gym in the morning, and he's in there getting up shots, and he's back shooting in the evening. I've coached some really good shooters, and, man, the way he the ball comes off his hands, and the confidence he has, it goes a long way."
How surreal is it that a guy from Monmouth, who was lightly recruited out of Omaha, led the nation in 3-point shooting last season?
Bashir grins when it is all laid out in those terms.
"It's a little bit surreal, but I knew I could shoot," he says. "I knew what I could do. I just needed the opportunity, and I was given that. I took care of the rest. I pride myself in hard work. Growing up, I wasn't the biggest, strongest or fastest, so I had to work hard, and that's what's led me to where I am now."
That — and an amazing story forged by loving parents.
According to a report in Guarden State, Abdi's mother fled from a Somali refugee camp and settled in Minnesota, where the twin sons were born in 2003. Their father, according to Guarden, spent multiple years fighting in a war for Somalia before rejoining the family. Soon after, the family moved to Omaha. Over the years, Abdi and Abdul learned basketball from their older brother, Ahmed, while playing in parks around the city.
"My family sacrificed a lot coming to America," Bashir says, standing outside the ESPN interview room at Big 12 Basketball Media Days. "I was born in America, but when they came to America, it wasn't as sweet as it is now. Mom had to work a couple jobs, and we lived in Section 8 housing. Mom sacrificed a lot for me and my brothers. Every day I thank her, and I wake up and I thank her.
"That's my 'why.' Mom is why I go as hard as I can."
Bashir also carries much love for Somalia.
"I just stay blessed, stay prayed up and control what I can control, and let God control the rest," Bashir told the Guarden. "And that's what I try to do, but I'm representing a lot. I'm representing my last name, and I'm representing a whole country. There are no Somali Division I players. You know, there's only one, there's a young guy at Arizona State (Amier Ali), and my twin brother and all of us, we're just trying to represent. We're trying to represent a whole country. So, I wear that on my sleeve."
Now it's October 31, and Bashir is definitely representing. In his first performance at Bramlage Coliseum, Bashir puts up 25 points on 7-for-14 shooting, including 5 3-pointers, demonstrating his range and consistency in the Wildcats' 112-90 win over Newman in an exhibition game.
"My teammates told me to keep shooting," Bashir says. "I got hot a little bit. They put me into positions to score. I got the easy job, just making my shot. Without them I wouldn't be able to do what I do. I appreciate them for that."
Mention of Bashir's night causes Tang to smile.
"Abdi? Abdi is a bucket," Tang says. "He's a bucket, and he works really hard, and he has a high level of confidence, and defenses have to pay attention to him.
"This wasn't special tonight. It was just OK — for him."
So, it's back to the lab for Bashir, who's gotten up shots both day and night inside the practice gym to hone his craft.
"My whole career, I've always been in the gym," Bashir says. "You see me play, and I'm not the most athletic, so I have to perfect my craft. I take pride in that. I focus on what I want to work on that day. Is there a number of 3-pointers I want to make? Nah. Maybe 300-400 3-pointers, but I don't have a specific number. I shoot until I get tired."
And here he is, Bashir, on the cusp of his first official game at K-State on November 4. The Wildcats will play UNC Greensboro in their season opener at 7:00 p.m. at Bramlage Coliseum.
There's one player on the court at 2:45 p.m. It's Bashir, getting up 3-pointer after 3-pointer inside this brightly lit empty arena, which will later be rocking. He has shot between 300 and 400 3-pointers in all.
The game doesn't begin for more than four hours.
No matter.
He hits his final shot, slaps hands with a visitor, smiles, and heads into the locker room.
Time passes.
And what is this?
Bashir returns to the court again at 4:50 p.m. This time he focuses on form shooting, kind of like we used to watch Markquis Nowell do religiously hours before tip-off when he was at K-State. Bashir sinks nearly every shot, and backs up a little bit more, and then a little bit more, and before long he's hitting shots from all over the court, this 22-year-old, enjoying the game he loves, playing for an audience of zero, lost in the thoughts of the day, and lost in the thoughts of the night to come, and lost in the possibilities for the season that lie ahead.
About three hours later, the gears are in motion and Bashir puts on a show in the second half of the Wildcats' 93-64 win over UNC Greensboro. He launches his first official 3-point attempt as a K-State Wildcat inches from the team bench and the ball glides through the net with 17:26 left in the game. It's the first of four made 3-pointers for Bashir, who finishes the game with 16 points. People say all the time in sports, "He's in the zone." Often it can become overused. But Bashir makes it look easy. Too easy. Tang and his coaching staff and players shake their heads over it all.
Bashir tries to put it into words.
"Me? My teammates give me the ball where they need to," Bashir says, wearing headphones during a postgame interview on the K-State Sports Network. "They make my life easy. I reward them with that. It's amazing playing with everybody on the team."
The games will roll along. K-State faces Bellarmine on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at Bramlage Coliseum. Then the Wildcats face California, then Tulsa, and then meet Mississippi State at T-Mobile Center on November 20.
In a way, it all goes back to T-Mobile Center on October 21, when Bashir helped to represent K-State at Big 12 Basketball Media Days. Bashir, donned in purple, found himself around coaches and players from across the Big 12 Conference. So many faces. So many teams.
So many possibilities down the road for Bashir and the Wildcats.
"I can't say what the Big 12 is going to be like," Bashir says. "There's only one way to find out. That's jumping in. I don't like speaking about things.
"I let my game do the talking."
This is the introduction to Bashir. He just turned 22. No cake. No candles. No ice cream. But he has been given a gift — this grand opportunity to display his talents on the biggest stage.
As for his birthday wish this year?
Each night on the basketball court it's coming true.
"It's your birthday?" PJ Haggerty says.
"Man, why didn't you tell anybody it's your birthday?"
Abdi Bashir Jr. nods his head, almost somewhat bashful.
"Mannnnn," Bashir says. "I'm not going to go around and tell everybody it's my birthday."
This is the introduction to Bashir, who we were told about just moments ago, when, standing inside the innards of the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas State associate head coach Matt Driscoll discussed the many admirable virtues of a 6-foot-7, 175-pound guard from Omaha, Nebraska, who arrived in Manhattan in April after two standout seasons at Monmouth.
Bashir, who's been 22 years old for roughly eight hours, is shy. He is humble. And he certainly won't tell you that he led the nation with 3.85 3-pointers per game or that his 127 total 3-pointers were the second most made by a college basketball player last season.
And there's a reason for it.
"Abdi is probably a better human being than he is a player," Driscoll says. "He's just the soil of the earth, humble, quiet at first, comes into the office, wants to share, wants to smile, wants to be a regular person, so to speak."
Driscoll breaks into a smile.
"Yet when you get him on the floor," he says, "Abdi is all about winning."
When it came time for Abdi to celebrate birthdays with his twin brother, Abdul, it was all about brotherly competition. Normally close brothers despite the distance between them — while Abdi is in Manhattan, Abdul is beginning his junior season at Auburn after playing two years at Casper College — the brothers growing up fiercely disliked each other one day out of the year: Their birthday.
"Favorite birthday story?" Abdi says. "When I was young, me and my brother would fight on every birthday, so I might have to find him today, so we can fight. We never liked sharing birthdays."
Abdi pauses.
"Birthdays are all right," he says. "But I wish I was in the gym."
It's October 21, and today is a rebirth of sorts, a celebration for Abdi, who is wearing all official K-State basketball attire publicly for the first time at the Big 12 Basketball Media Day, and who embarks upon his first season of basketball while playing for a Power 4 school. There's no cake, no candle, but plenty of supporters.
Along with the gift — the gift of getting this grand opportunity to display his talents on the biggest stage and in arguably the deepest conference in Division I basketball.
"Yeah, this is a rebirth, a little bit," Bashir says, walking slowly toward an ESPN interview room. "I'm loving my experience at K-State so far."
Last season, Bashir put up 20 points against Michigan State in his first career start at Monmouth. Playing against potential NBA lottery picks Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, Bashir sank 10 3-pointers and scored 38 points on Rutgers — the highest point total by a visiting player at Rutgers since 1977 — and days later he earned Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week honors with a 25-point effort against Northern Illinois. Then he nailed six 3-pointers en route to scoring 28 points against Seton Hall.
Bashir finished 16th in Division I with 20.1 points per game and 25th nationally with 663 points, and he recorded 13 20-point efforts and five 30-point performances. He sank at least five 3-pointers in 12 games, and he hit eight 3-pointers in back-to-back contests.
Not bad for a kid from Omaha who everybody counted out.
"I wasn't recruited much," Bashir says. "People said I was too skinny. They wouldn't take a chance on me."
But what Monmouth head coach King Rice saw in Bashir is precisely what K-State head coach Jerome Tang instantly spotted on film when the Wildcats' coaching staff assessed potential talent to join the team for the 2025-26 season.
"When I entered the transfer portal, K-State hit me up immediately," Bashir says. "It was a quick conversation. They pursued me a lot. They made me feel like a great person, they valued me, and they showed me everything they wanted to do. It was an easy decision."
After Bashir settled in at K-State, it was difficult to keep him out of the gym.
"Abdi Bashir is the best shooter in America," Tang says on stage in front of hundreds of reporters at T-Mobile Center. "When he shoots it, it goes in. The results, right? His work ethic, I walk into the gym in the morning, and he's in there getting up shots, and he's back shooting in the evening. I've coached some really good shooters, and, man, the way he the ball comes off his hands, and the confidence he has, it goes a long way."
How surreal is it that a guy from Monmouth, who was lightly recruited out of Omaha, led the nation in 3-point shooting last season?
Bashir grins when it is all laid out in those terms.
"It's a little bit surreal, but I knew I could shoot," he says. "I knew what I could do. I just needed the opportunity, and I was given that. I took care of the rest. I pride myself in hard work. Growing up, I wasn't the biggest, strongest or fastest, so I had to work hard, and that's what's led me to where I am now."
That — and an amazing story forged by loving parents.
According to a report in Guarden State, Abdi's mother fled from a Somali refugee camp and settled in Minnesota, where the twin sons were born in 2003. Their father, according to Guarden, spent multiple years fighting in a war for Somalia before rejoining the family. Soon after, the family moved to Omaha. Over the years, Abdi and Abdul learned basketball from their older brother, Ahmed, while playing in parks around the city.
"My family sacrificed a lot coming to America," Bashir says, standing outside the ESPN interview room at Big 12 Basketball Media Days. "I was born in America, but when they came to America, it wasn't as sweet as it is now. Mom had to work a couple jobs, and we lived in Section 8 housing. Mom sacrificed a lot for me and my brothers. Every day I thank her, and I wake up and I thank her.
"That's my 'why.' Mom is why I go as hard as I can."
Bashir also carries much love for Somalia.
"I just stay blessed, stay prayed up and control what I can control, and let God control the rest," Bashir told the Guarden. "And that's what I try to do, but I'm representing a lot. I'm representing my last name, and I'm representing a whole country. There are no Somali Division I players. You know, there's only one, there's a young guy at Arizona State (Amier Ali), and my twin brother and all of us, we're just trying to represent. We're trying to represent a whole country. So, I wear that on my sleeve."
Now it's October 31, and Bashir is definitely representing. In his first performance at Bramlage Coliseum, Bashir puts up 25 points on 7-for-14 shooting, including 5 3-pointers, demonstrating his range and consistency in the Wildcats' 112-90 win over Newman in an exhibition game.
"My teammates told me to keep shooting," Bashir says. "I got hot a little bit. They put me into positions to score. I got the easy job, just making my shot. Without them I wouldn't be able to do what I do. I appreciate them for that."
Mention of Bashir's night causes Tang to smile.
"Abdi? Abdi is a bucket," Tang says. "He's a bucket, and he works really hard, and he has a high level of confidence, and defenses have to pay attention to him.
"This wasn't special tonight. It was just OK — for him."
So, it's back to the lab for Bashir, who's gotten up shots both day and night inside the practice gym to hone his craft.
"My whole career, I've always been in the gym," Bashir says. "You see me play, and I'm not the most athletic, so I have to perfect my craft. I take pride in that. I focus on what I want to work on that day. Is there a number of 3-pointers I want to make? Nah. Maybe 300-400 3-pointers, but I don't have a specific number. I shoot until I get tired."
And here he is, Bashir, on the cusp of his first official game at K-State on November 4. The Wildcats will play UNC Greensboro in their season opener at 7:00 p.m. at Bramlage Coliseum.
There's one player on the court at 2:45 p.m. It's Bashir, getting up 3-pointer after 3-pointer inside this brightly lit empty arena, which will later be rocking. He has shot between 300 and 400 3-pointers in all.
The game doesn't begin for more than four hours.
No matter.
He hits his final shot, slaps hands with a visitor, smiles, and heads into the locker room.
Time passes.
And what is this?
Bashir returns to the court again at 4:50 p.m. This time he focuses on form shooting, kind of like we used to watch Markquis Nowell do religiously hours before tip-off when he was at K-State. Bashir sinks nearly every shot, and backs up a little bit more, and then a little bit more, and before long he's hitting shots from all over the court, this 22-year-old, enjoying the game he loves, playing for an audience of zero, lost in the thoughts of the day, and lost in the thoughts of the night to come, and lost in the possibilities for the season that lie ahead.
About three hours later, the gears are in motion and Bashir puts on a show in the second half of the Wildcats' 93-64 win over UNC Greensboro. He launches his first official 3-point attempt as a K-State Wildcat inches from the team bench and the ball glides through the net with 17:26 left in the game. It's the first of four made 3-pointers for Bashir, who finishes the game with 16 points. People say all the time in sports, "He's in the zone." Often it can become overused. But Bashir makes it look easy. Too easy. Tang and his coaching staff and players shake their heads over it all.
Bashir tries to put it into words.
"Me? My teammates give me the ball where they need to," Bashir says, wearing headphones during a postgame interview on the K-State Sports Network. "They make my life easy. I reward them with that. It's amazing playing with everybody on the team."
The games will roll along. K-State faces Bellarmine on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at Bramlage Coliseum. Then the Wildcats face California, then Tulsa, and then meet Mississippi State at T-Mobile Center on November 20.
In a way, it all goes back to T-Mobile Center on October 21, when Bashir helped to represent K-State at Big 12 Basketball Media Days. Bashir, donned in purple, found himself around coaches and players from across the Big 12 Conference. So many faces. So many teams.
So many possibilities down the road for Bashir and the Wildcats.
"I can't say what the Big 12 is going to be like," Bashir says. "There's only one way to find out. That's jumping in. I don't like speaking about things.
"I let my game do the talking."
This is the introduction to Bashir. He just turned 22. No cake. No candles. No ice cream. But he has been given a gift — this grand opportunity to display his talents on the biggest stage.
As for his birthday wish this year?
Each night on the basketball court it's coming true.
Players Mentioned
G
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