Recruiting Report: Montez Mathis (2018)
It’s never easy to transfer into a basketball powerhouse when you’ve only had one year of high school basketball experience. However, when you’ve been a touted from a young age in the DMV, one of the best basketball areas in…
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Continue ReadingIt’s never easy to transfer into a basketball powerhouse when you’ve only had one year of high school basketball experience. However, when you’ve been a touted from a young age in the DMV, one of the best basketball areas in the country, playing against the best is what you strive for.
That is the case for Oak Hill sophomore Montez Mathis, who transferred in after being a stud at Mount Carmel outside of Baltimore.
“It’s a lot different,” Montez said about the transition. “There’s better competition every day in practice, the majority of our practices are better than the games. It was fun, I think I got a lot better and I matured more on and off the court. It’s just books and basketball and that’s all I want to do right now.
The 6’4” wing has already drawn interest from a number of big time programs including Xavier, Washington, Maryland, West Virginia and Seton Hall, among others. While he hasn’t landed any offers yet, that doesn’t have him discouraged, only motivated.
Montez Mathis has had a great start to the summer with Team Melo.“Throughout the summer my goals are to keep getting better and pick up a couple of offers,” Montez said. “Going into Oak Hill I just want to be mature and ready to play because I know my name is going to get called.”
Whenever it does get called, Mathis has the game to contribute in a number of ways. He fits the Oak Hill system perfectly, as he’s athletic enough to pressure the basketball and run in transition, and he’s intelligent enough to read defenses. He can hit shots from all over the court, and he’s improved his perimeter jumper to where he’s a consistent threat to torch the nets from deep.
“I like to do a little bit of everything whether it’s play defense, rebound, get steals, score or get my teammates involved.”
Mathis took his lumps last season, and it won’t be easy to see the floor as Oak Hill is expected to return their four key contributors from the backcourt, all of whom will be seniors. However, if he continues to have such a big summer and stays in the gym to improve, it will be hard to keep him off of the floor when the season comes around.