Gophers senior guard-forward Jamal Abu-Shamala (33) has seen the worst of times and the best of times with the program. (Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Gophers senior Jamal Abu-Shamala has an uncle living in Gaza. "I'm named after him ... Jamal," Abu-Shamala said. "He's my dad's older brother."

Subhy Abu-Shamala has attempted to contact his brother to see if family members have survived the latest battle between Israeli troops and Hamas.

"He hasn't been able to reach anyone," Abu-Shamala said. "As I understand it, the communications in Gaza have been taken out."

Subhy's family is of Palestinian descent. "Way back when, his mother told my dad to find a good place to live peacefully," Jamal said. "He was able to come to the United States."

Subhy married Carolyn Kenmore. Jamal was born in 1987. He went to the Middle East on a family trip once -- as a 4-year-old.

Last summer Jamal returned, this time as a member of Jordan's national basketball team. He spent 2 1/2 months practicing with the team in the capital of Amman and playing in various tournaments.

"It was a great experience and hopefully it will open some doors," Abu-Shamala said. "If I had my way, I would play basketball for another 15 years."

Right now, it's the next basketball game -- tonight at Wisconsin -- that matters more to Abu-Shamala than any in which he has ever been involved.

"I've never beaten Wisconsin or Illinois," he said. "And to get a victory over the Badgers in Kohl Center would say so much about where we are as a team."

Abu-Shamala is one of two seniors with the Gophers. The other is center Jonathan Williams.

Jamal was a star on Shakopee's Class 3A title team in 2005. He walked on to Dan Monson's Gophers as a 6-5 shooting guard for the 2005-06 season.

"My scholarship offers were from Division II," Abu-Shamala said. "I felt if I didn't give it at least a try at the highest level, that all the time and hard work I put into basketball would have been wasted."

Monson happily accepted Abu-Shamala as a walk-on. Jamal earned playing time -- including 31 minutes against Arizona State -- during the nonconference schedule and was on scholarship by his second semester at Minnesota.

His playing time fluctuated over three seasons and three coaches: Monson, Jim Molinari and Tubby Smith. Now, as a senior, he has gone from starting eight of nine games during one nonconference stretch to seeing his minutes reduced as junior college players Paul Carter and Devron Bostick start to emerge.

"You can see we're getting better, and Paul and Devron are part of that," he said Wednesday before the Gophers left for Madison. "Any basketball player wants to be on the floor; you want to play the whole game. But there are so many things we haven't done while I've been here.

"We haven't been to the NCAA tournament. We haven't won a Big Ten title. We haven't won a Big Ten tournament. I want to experience those things. And if that means fewer minutes for me, I'll take it."

The Gophers were coming off an unexpected NCAA season with Monson when Abu-Shamala arrived as a freshman. Vincent Grier, the leader of that NCAA run, was back.

It was a veteran group that flopped to a 5-11 finish in the Big Ten and set up Monson to be fired seven games into the 2006-07 season.

"The lowest I've felt as a player was after the game with Clemson," Abu-Shamala said. "National television ... and we were lucky to get the ball over half-court."

Clemson won 90-68 and Monson was gone, replaced by assistant Jim Molinari. The season ended with a 3-13 record in the Big Ten and a nine-game losing streak.

"I was contacted about joining Jordan's national team after that season," Abu-Shamala said. "I thought it was a joke at first. And I didn't know who our coach was going to be. I didn't think it was a good idea to be in Amman when we had a new coach getting to know his team."

He said no to his father's home country and then Smith was announced as the new coach. Everything changed for Gophers basketball.

"We went from being a disaster to having one of the best coaches in the country," Abu-Shamala said. "He's an unbelievable coach and man. He's the reason we keep getting better.

"I feel like we can compete with any team in the country. I mean that."

Patrick Reusse can be heard 5:30-9 a.m. weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP. preusse@startribune.com