On Monday morning, the Ames Golf and Country Club is buzzing.

Lyndsey Fennelly, the organizer of the Georges Niang golf outing, is running around greeting people, talking to a lost Iowa State Daily reporter and making sure that everything is running smoothly.

Guests and participants arrive, signing up for raffles and chatting away.

Then the man of the day shows up, and everyone stops for just a second.

Niang walks in, 6-foot-8 but carrying a calm, humble demeanor on his shoulders. He smiles, takes pictures with fans and organizers and soaks in the day. This is how he wants to give back to a place he says makes him feel at home.

He gives back and then some. The golf outing raises $35,720 for Mary Greeley Medical Center to help the facility’s Behavioral Health Unit. In a Tweet following the event, Fennelly says their goal for next year’s outing is to raise $40,000.

The Iowa State Daily spoke to Niang at the start of his two-day run of events in Ames, discussing the golf outing, his basketball camp and his NBA career.

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Question: This is your second year doing the golf tournament, what were your expectations heading in?

Answer: I think my expectations are just to get awareness out for mental illness. I think that’s the biggest thing going forward, and whatever charity we’re looking to aim our focus on, to really focus on that. Mental illness is something that people need to be educated on going forward.

Q: How did you come to the decision to talk about mental illness for this event?

A: I think the biggest thing for that is my partner and teammate, Lyndsey Fennelly. She means so much to me, and I think that as a collective group we decided that was the direction we wanted to go in. It hit home with us, and it makes the most sense.

It’s something that we need to pay attention to, and something that we need to educate ourselves on and come together as one and fight this together.

Q: With your basketball camp, you’ve been doing that for three years, what’s kind of important about teaching those kids?

A: I think the biggest thing for me is that, when I was growing up, there were different players I looked up to, but I wouldn’t get to say that I got to meet them or got to do a basketball camp with them. So i just want to be around and be able to be there, and have a touch on what these young kids are learning on the basketball court. Whether it’s off-the-court issues or giving them advice on how to handle certain things, I want to be there and I want to be able to speak to them and I want them to be able to see me and be there in front of them and see my actions.

Because when I was younger, I had to watch my mentors on TV, so if I’m a mentor for any of these kids I want to be there so they can see it and be around it.

Q: As far as your new contract with the Jazz, was there a sense of relief there?

A: [Laughs] I wish there was a sense of relief. It’s a sense of relief in one aspect, and that’s just that I have a job. Now, the real work is starting. Now, you have to prove your worth. So I think the real work is just starting now. After this golf outing and basketball tournament, I’m gonna have to lock in and get ready for the season, but I’m really excited about it. New challenges and new experiences definitely excite me, so I can’t wait to get started and continue my journey in Utah.

Q: With the special bond that you have with Naz [Mitrou-Long], and with him being on another two-way contract with the Jazz this year, what’s it like to have a close friend on the team?

A: Yeah, I think that’s the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I tell people all the time that, in my senior year I felt like I got stripped of that with [Naz] being injured and not playing alongside of me, but now that we’re in the same organization, you couldn’t write a book as good as my life is going right now. Being able to be next to someone that you’ve talked about chasing your dream with and then being able to watch it, live it and see it every day, that is amazing and I’m blessed to have that and have him as my best friend.