Fort Lewis College’s 2025-2026 men’s basketball roster is complete and the most impactful returner was the last to announce. Forward Chuol Deng is returning to FLC for his fifth and final year of college basketball.
Deng entered the transfer portal on March 17, according to Verbal Commits, and heard from multiple Division I schools. However, Deng decided he was coming back to FLC and told the Skyhawk coaches in early June.
“It’s unfinished business,” Deng said about his return to FLC. “I just felt like it's the best option for me to come back, especially since I'm comfortable and I'm close with the coaches. It's a good area to be around. That's really what it is; I like Durango and it's my last year. So I just want to enjoy it, be around a good group and then also be able to graduate.”
FLC went 19-12 overall and 12-8 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in Deng’s first season with the team, but that wasn’t good enough for Deng. He was left unsatisfied after FLC lost in the RMAC tournament semifinals and thought the Skyhawks should’ve advanced to the tournament championship game.
Last season, Deng was second on the team with 13.4 points per game and led the team with 7.9 rebounds per game, along with leading the team with 0.97 blocks per game. Deng is the team’s top returning scorer.
“When you get a player like Chuol to return, it just makes you an instant contender for an RMAC regular season championship,” FLC head coach Jordan Mast said. “He was a player who was an all-conference guy who was one of our best players … Getting him back with the group we bring in is that sets us up for success and it keeps our expectations high … It starts with getting great players and retaining great players … He's a wonderful guy and a lot of people in community love him.”
Deng is excited about the mix of returners FLC is bringing in and the players it got from high school and the transfer portal. He thinks all the pieces fit perfectly and that the coaches got the right players the team was missing last year. Deng feels like the chemistry is already a lot better than last year.
One of FLC’s biggest problems last year was its lack of size. After the Skyhawks staff was hired after the offseason started, they quickly put together a roster and couldn’t find a true center. Therefore, at 6-foot-7-inches, Deng had to guard centers a lot of the time.
Mast and his staff fixed that predicament this year by bringing in Massal Diouf, a 6-foot-9-inch, 240-pound post player from Division I Western Illinois who’s better equipped to guard centers in the RMAC.
“He's going to be in his more of his natural position; he's more of a stretch four even a wing player,” Mast said about Deng. “I know he's got great size, and he's a phenomenal rebounder, but his game is more on the perimeter … This year, with having some other guys that have that size, it'll allow him to play in his more natural spot. You'll see him thrive in it.”
Deng is excited for the lineup versatility FLC will have next year. He’s been working on his ballhandling and decision-making so he can play freely next year.
Mast and the staff want him to work on driving left and adding a little size so he can be a true inside-out threat. On the mental side of things, Mast wants Deng to be more even-keeled on the court. Mast knows Deng is very hard on himself and wants him to stay focused and play hard. If he does that, he’ll always impact the game.
Deng wants to help the team win and he knows the individual accolades will come with team success. He can envision this team winning an RMAC and national championship, but he knows to take things one step at a time and build up to those big moments.
The last player addition to the 2025-2026 Skyhawks roster is freshman Tate Ziemkiewicz. The 6-foot-5-inch, 185-pound freshman guard is from Allen, Texas, and played high school basketball at 5A Lovejoy High School in Lucas, Texas.
Ziemkiewicz first came on Mast’s radar because of assistant coach Jeff Evans. A coaching friend of Evans put Ziemkiewicz on FLC’s radar. Mast and the staff watched him play, had him on a visit and Ziemkiewicz announced his commitment on May 16.
“He's got great size, he can shoot the lights out and he's just young,” Mast said. “So for us to get a guy like that, that's going to be a freshman and most likely redshirt, then develop and learn from these older guys, I like not just him, but all our redshirts. This is a group that we really could see developing into a role over the years.”
Mast said Ziemkiewicz was known as a do-it-all player in high school but would be known mostly as a shooter in college right now. A redshirt year would get him comfortable playing that role he did in high school in college and making those moves against college-level players on a daily basis, according to Mast.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
