Illinois Basketball Player lands G-League Combine Invite

Recapping Mayer’s year with Illinois Basketball.

Matthew Mayer was huge news when he committed to Illinois. Mayer played a role on a national championship team and flashed some big-time potential as a scorer and defender. Mayer showed that in his year at Illinois, however in spurts. Frustratingly occasional spurts. The Texas native started the year off slow, he reportedly was recovering from a back injury and looked a little off. He started the year shooting 7-29 from the three.

He broke out, however, on the biggest stage in basketball. Mayer absolutely lit up Madison square garden after he made 5 threes in an overtime win against number 2 ranked Texas. Illinois fans were at an all time high. They had just beaten top-10 ranked UCLA and had the entire fanbase riled up after those two wins. However, the rest of the season was pretty forgettable.

A Caffeine high.

After Illinois squeaked by Alabama A&M, Mayer took to the press to voice frustrations about Coach Underwood. Apparently, Mayer wanted to fast before games and not practice so often. The weirdness continued after Illinois was blasted by Northwestern and also publicly called out by Coach Underwood. Mayer’s play improved, however, and Illinois feasted on the bottom half of the conference.

As Illinois looked to be settling in, Mayer apparently missed a practice due to “caffeine toxicity” after chugging a large amount of energy drinks. Whether that was true or not, the lack of focus was kind of apparent. Afterwards, Mayer claimed to be “the best-defender in college basketball” in a BTN: The Journey Episode. Mayer ended the season shooting a horrid 2-20 from the three.

The Next Level:

This is not to take away from Matthew Mayer’s play. He put up a career year with Illinois. The Illini do not make their fourth straight NCAA tournament without his outstanding play. Additionally, it is not often that an Illinois Basketball Player lands G-League Combine Invite. Mayer has the skillset to play in the NBA. We hope that G-league combine is just a step in that dream for the eccentric, skilled forward.