By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

IOWA CITY — Ladji Dembele speaks five languages, all part of his education as he has moved throughout the world.

The Iowa freshman speaks Bambara and Soninke, two of the languages in Mali in west Africa, where he grew up. He learned to speak French in the schools there, learned to speak Spanish when his family moved to Spain when he was 13 years old, then English when he came to the United States.

It’s all part of the adjustment process, Dembele said.

“You have to study,” he said on Thursday. “But when you go to a place where nobody speaks the same language as you, you have to figure out a way, or you won’t be able to talk to anybody.”

His journey to Iowa, he said, was all about finding the right place to continue his basketball career.

Dembele, a 6-foot-8, 250-pound forward, fits in nicely with Iowa’s rotation. He is averaging six points and 2.3 rebounds in three games with the Hawkeyes heading into Friday’s game against Arkansas State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

His path growing up, though, was an education.

“The two languages when I was growing up in Africa, those were easy,” Dembele said. “And French, also, because when you go to school over there they study French.”

Dembele said primarily speaking English is something he has gotten used to over the last few years.

“It’s not really weird,” he said. “But sometimes, I get confused when someone is speaking to me in English. In my mind, I’m like, ‘Let me translate that.’ Sometimes that happens.”

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery described Dembele’s personality as “pretty quiet.”

“I think some of it might come from how he has grown up,” said McCaffery, who recruited Dembele out of St. Benedict’s Prep in New Jersey. “You think about it, he spoke French growing up and then he spoke Spanish when he was in Barcelona, and then when he went to Jersey, he was speaking English and Spanish because he was living in community with Spanish-speaking folks. Then he comes here and everything is English.

“Just a delightful guy, great personality, great smile, but on the quieter side.”

“I love Ladji,” said freshman forward Owen Freeman, who is Dembele’s roommate. “He’s really funny off the court. He’s really fun to be around.”

Dembele grew up playing soccer, but he knew as he got taller playing the sport would be a problem.

Dembele, who played on Mali’s U-19 team in the 2021 World Cup, found success at St. Benedict’s, where he averaged 16 points last season. He did not draw a lot of recruiting interest until he headed into his senior season, when Iowa rose to the top of his list.

“I took a couple of visits, but Iowa was the best choice,” he said. “I went to practice, and I thought it was the best fit for me. Plus I knew a couple of guys were leaving, so I knew this might be a good spot for me.”

Dembele, with his size, has shown the ability to score from the outside. He was a 36-percent 3-point shooter in high school, and he’s made four of his six 3-point attempts this season.

“It was kind of a big part of my game since high school, since I started playing,” Dembele said. “I wanted to be a good shooter, and work on my game a little bit.”

“Yeah, he’s always been a good 3-point shooter,” McCaffery said. “You look at him and think, well, he’s a bruising power forward and he can play that way. He can back down and he gets traffic rebounds. He’s big and strong. But he’s always had really good perimeter skill. He can put it on the deck, doesn’t panic when teams are pressing or tapping him. He’s a really good passer and really good shooter.”

Having that kind of range, McCaffery said, adds to Dembele’s versatility.

“It gives us a lot of flexibility because we can move him around,” McCaffery said. “We can play him at the ‘5’ if we have to, but he’s primarily a forward that can stretch the floor. He runs really well and is a really good athlete. He was somebody that when we started recruiting him, we felt like he could really be special. He’s proven to be that.”

Dembele looked comfortable in Tuesday’s 92-84 loss at Creighton, when he was 3-for-4 from the field, making both of his 3-point attempts.

“It was a big game. First road game. So it was a big experience,” Dembele said. “I was not really nervous, or anything like that. I was excited to play. I knew it was sold out, the fans were going to be there. It was like, relax and play.”

It’s all part of Dembele being comfortable in the latest stop on his journey.

Asked if he wanted to learn any more languages, though, Dembele laughed.

“Not really,” he said. “Five is enough.”

Photo: Iowa’s Ladji Dembele (right) drives against Creighton’s defense in Tuesday’s game. (Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com)