For Bucknell freshman Ruot Bijiek, being part of a basketball team has been a natural transition. After all, when you are the fourth of eight siblings, many of those family lessons in mentorship, teamwork, and even some hardship, translate well to the world of athletics.

The son of Dual Gony and Elizabeth Ring, Ruot – or simply “Ru” as his teammates call him – was born in Ames, Iowa, and moved to the Des Moines suburb of Waukee in the eighth grade. Older brothers Gony, Jal, and Gatdoar were all high-level prep hoopsters – Jal went on to play collegiately at North Dakota -- and helped introduce Ruot to the game. Younger brother Nuer, currently in the Class of 2024, is the next prospect on the way, and then D.J. already stands at 6’5” as a high school freshman. Little sisters Liakouth and Nyamaan round out the family circle.

Dual and Elizabeth came to the United States in 1995 at the age of 18 to escape the violent civil war in their native South Sudan. They first arrived in Texas and then relocated to Ames when Dual attended Iowa State University to study business. Elizabeth works as a caregiver for the elderly, and Dual works at Wells Fargo and has made trips back to his homeland on business and humanitarian missions.

In 2008, when Ruot was four years old, he and his family spent a year back in Africa, reuniting with cousins, aunts, and uncles in Uganda and South Sudan. Today, thanks to social media, he is able to connect with many of them more regularly.

“It was awesome,” Ruot says of the journey back to Africa. “A lot of the details I have forgotten because I was really young, but I can still picture what it looks like and all of the people that I met. I’m so busy with school and playing basketball now, but I definitely want to go back there sometime.”

Following in his older brothers’ footsteps, Ruot was playing competitive AAU basketball in middle school, starting in Ames with Iowa Attack, the same program that produced future North Carolina star and current Sacramento Kings forward Harrison Barnes. He moved on to Beyond Ball and then to the OSA Crusaders out of Omaha on the adidas Circuit.

Ruot also had the chance to play with the Bradley Beal Elite AAU team and was coached by the Washington Wizards’ star himself. Ruot says he has played with and against a number of big-time players, including his younger cousin Omaha Biliew, a five-star Iowa State commit who just this week was named a McDonald’s All-American, but the first time he was ever really starstruck was when he realized Beal knew his name.

“The first game he came to, he was on the bench and he was yelling my name. And I had to stop and was like, ‘wait, he knows my name?’” Ruot says with a laugh. “He is really intense, but I learned so much from him in such a little amount of time. He really only had time to come to the games, but he would come over and draw up a play, and it would be crazy. It would be like an NBA play, and then it would work perfectly. He’s a super real person, too. He’ll tell you straight up if you are not doing something right or if you’re not giving enough effort.”

Ruot started his high school career at Dowling Catholic before transferring to Valley High School for his final two years. At Valley, Ruot was part of a very good team that finished 21-4 and won a league title. He had a 40-point game and ended up earning Second Team Class 4A All-State and First Team All-Conference honors as a senior.

Many college athletes had that light-bulb moment somewhere along the line when they realized they had what it takes to play at the next level. For Ruot, that realization came fairly early.

“Playing in college was something that I’ve wanted to do my entire life, but it really hit me that I could do it in my eighth-grade year going into freshman year in high school. I was playing against bigger guys, older guys, and holding my own.”

When the college decision time arrived, Ruot leaned on the advice of his siblings.

“My oldest brother who played at North Dakota, he knew what it was like to be recruited and be pulled a bunch of different ways. He pretty much just told me to find the best fit and go where I feel like I can be successful, instead of listening to all the noise.”

Ruot had picked up some junior-year offers from the likes of Nebraska, Arkansas, and Western Illinois, but an injury took him off the AAU circuit for a bit and the offers started to slow. Ruot was making plans to attend a prep school in Missouri for a postgraduate year when he first met former Bucknell assistant coach Joe Meehan during his senior year.

Head coach Nathan Davis traveled to see him play a game in January, and within a few weeks, Ruot had an offer from Bucknell. He came out on an official visit, loved what he saw, and decided to call off the postgrad year.

“I felt like I had a good relationship with the coaches, and when I came on my visit I really liked it here. I really didn’t want to wait it out anymore, especially with the transfer portal, it felt like schools weren’t making as many offers to kids out of high school. Another big factor was the high academics. They showed me what a degree from Bucknell can do for you. You can be straight for the rest of your life.”

Ruot arrived last June, as the entire Bison squad was back on campus for summer workouts while getting ahead in some coursework. Ruot quickly learned how hard freshmen need to work to adjust to the college game.

“It took a little bit of time. At the start, I definitely felt like I could hold my own, but I had to sort of discover what my game would be like in college. It’s different, because everyone is bigger, faster, and stronger, so you can’t just do the same things you were doing in high school when you were the best player on the team. So I just had to come in and work hard right away.”