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Montez Mathis

bac2therac

bac2therac

Hall of Famer
Jul 30, 2001
248,041
177,680
113
Before I start my recap, Montez needs a special thread. With Harper out and Young still hurting, Montez had his greatest performance as a Knight. His ups and downs have pushed him into the background as Harper, Geo, JY and Myles get the attention but tonight, beyond the grit the team as a whole showed, it was Tez who was the shining star. When he plays within himself, he is an incredible player. He hit a couple of clutch baskets that basically won the game for RU. At 6:30 minutes left, a 3 that gave RU a 5 point cushion they maintained, then a jumper at 3 minutes when Purdue cut it to just 1, and then the dagger at 73-68 with a minute left that put RU up 7. Mathis also had his hands all over the final rebound on the last Purdue possession An incredible stat line....9-15...5-5 from 3, 5 boards, 25 points.

Credit Mathis for bouncing back after he had a couple of bad plays in a row in this game and I will call myself out for calling him a me player. If Tez can just cut back on those plays and I think this year he really has, skies is the limit for him. I think he gets caught up in having to force plays when he gets touches. Tonight man he was marvelous.
 
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NewJerseyHawk

NewJerseyHawk

Heisman
Jan 11, 2007
24,470
38,782
113
Give the guards around him for finding him and giving him good clean passes, so he can gather, catch and shoot.

I am sold on his defense and my one thought was what would happen if you funneled your offense through Mathis like tonight....downhill, attacking and using his size and strength against the Purdue guards.

He's a tough cover if he's making jumpers like this year....bona-fide 4 year starter that is a program builder.

#Doubledown......!!
 
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Fat-Tony

Fat-Tony

Senior
Jul 2, 2004
389
510
93
Thanks for this thread. I was looking to start one. He was a beast tonight. He deserves all of the accolades. I am so happy for him. He is typically an unsung hero of a win. Great game.
 
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J

JonathanAlan

Heisman
Jan 14, 2002
6,394
10,057
113
bac2therac said:
Before I start my recap, Montez needs a special thread. With Harper out and Young still hurting, Montez had his greatest performance as a Knight. His ups and downs have pushed him into the background as Harper, Geo, JY and Myles get the attention but tonight, beyond the grit the team as a whole showed, it was Tez who was the shining star. When he plays within himself, he is an incredible player. He hit a couple of clutch baskets that basically won the game for RU. At 6:30 minutes left, a 3 that gave RU a 5 point cushion they maintained, then a jumper at 3 minutes when Purdue cut it to just 1, and then the dagger at 73-68 with a minute left that put RU up 7. Mathis also had his hands all over the final rebound on the last Purdue possession An incredible stat line....9-15...5-5 from 3, 5 boards, 25 points.

Credit Mathis for bouncing back after he had a couple of bad plays in a row in this game and I will call myself out for calling him a me player. If Tez can just cut back on those plays and I think this year he really has, skies is the limit for him. I think he gets caught up in having to force plays when he gets touches. Tonight man he was marvelous.
Click to expand...
What makes this Rutgers team so special is that each game everyone makes positive contributions. Good to see Rieber, Oskar , and even Doucoure make some positive contributions. A total team effort with Tez, Geo and Jacob stepping up big time. Myles was his usual self but somewhat less aggressive on defense , probably by design in order to get his minutes on the floor. Lastly, good to see Paul makes some key 3's and play his usual pesky self .....You gotta love this team.Really shorthanded but they still come out on top. We're also seeing the importance of making foul shots , especially in crunch time.
 
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bac2therac

bac2therac

Hall of Famer
Jul 30, 2001
248,041
177,680
113
NewJerseyHawk said:
Give the guards around him for finding him and giving him good clean passes, so he can gather, catch and shoot.

I am sold on his defense and my one thought was what would happen if you funneled your offense through Mathis like tonight....downhill, attacking and using his size and strength against the Purdue guards.

He's a tough cover if he's making jumpers like this year....bona-fide 4 year starter that is a program builder.

#Doubledown......!!
Click to expand...


i have not seen games where Mathis had so much space and time to shoot. Obviously without Harper he is going to be in a different position but I loved how open he was tonight and you are right his teammates deserve credit for finding him
 
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knight82

All-American
Nov 4, 2002
8,496
9,109
113
I don't follow recruiting as closely as some but am I right in remembering that it was considered a big deal when Mathis committed?
 
S

Shell21

Heisman
Mar 23, 2004
35,276
24,883
113
Monte has a few “me” plays a game , like when shoots flat footed off the dribble or goes 1 on 4. You have to live with a few because he’s a gamer who has consistently made big shots for us the last few years . Now that he’s hitting threes we become even tougher to guard on offense . We scored 81 tonight without our best player . Impressive
 
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R

RUtrumpet92_rivals498139

All-American
Feb 5, 2003
10,973
9,378
113
He has been very solid from 3 when he can catch and shoot, not as much when he shoots those 3s off the bounce. Great team offense finding him and awesome job of knocking them down.

It would be great if he got some more calls on his drives, but he has to keep his cool and continue to attack even if the refs swallow the whistle.

Awesome game, Montez!
 
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new jersey1_rivals661559

All-Conference
Oct 22, 2005
2,383
2,274
0
He was huge as Bac detailed. Uncharacteristically, it appeared he got beat back door several times or was on the wrong side of guys making layoffs off of dishes. But that could have been attributable to his aggressiveness or help defense.
 
R

RU848789

Heisman
Jul 27, 2001
65,217
44,292
113
He's a grown man at guard. So competitive and fearless. Not always in control, but always giving 110% and tonight was his best game at RU when we truly needed him. Can't expect 5-5 from deep and 4-4 FTs every night, but if he could simply make 35-40% from deep and 70% from the line, that really makes him a weapon.
 
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R

RutgersMC

Junior
Dec 29, 2011
625
357
0
Montez definitely deserves his own thread tonight. Just clutch when he needed to be. He also deserves congratulations on his new career high!
 
H

hiwater

All-Conference
Aug 1, 2001
9,575
3,132
113
jonS said:
What makes this Rutgers team so special is that each game everyone makes positive contributions. Good to see Rieber, Oskar , and even Doucoure make some positive contributions. A total team effort with Tez, Geo and Jacob stepping up big time. Myles was his usual self but somewhat less aggressive on defense , probably by design in order to get his minutes on the floor. Lastly, good to see Paul makes some key 3's and play his usual pesky self .....You gotta love this team.Really shorthanded but they still come out on top. We're also seeing the importance of making foul shots , especially in crunch time.
Click to expand...
Right on! All 3 contributed quite a bit. Their biggest contribution was on D. Also, hey each scored, and they did not hurt us on O too much.
 
T

tfio

All-American
Dec 10, 2015
3,896
5,726
113
knight82 said:
I don't follow recruiting as closely as some but am I right in remembering that it was considered a big deal when Mathis committed?
Click to expand...
Yup. From what I remember TOS had a lot of people “predicting” him going to UConn right before he committed here. He committed to RU shortly after with a tweet that said “bet on yourself and double down”....which is ****** awesome
 
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H

hiwater

All-Conference
Aug 1, 2001
9,575
3,132
113
kevin0214 said:
I love him about 90% of the time. 10% of the time he can drive you crazy. But, I’m delighted we have them and he is sort of a rarity and old-school guy that will be a four year major contributor. OK, I love him 98% of the time!
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The 3% of the time he drives me crazy is when trying to dunk and missing when he could have more easily laid it in. Young does the same thing too often also.
 
G

goru7

All-American
Dec 12, 2005
6,432
7,711
113
bac2therac said:
Before I start my recap, Montez needs a special thread. With Harper out and Young still hurting, Montez had his greatest performance as a Knight. His ups and downs have pushed him into the background as Harper, Geo, JY and Myles get the attention but tonight, beyond the grit the team as a whole showed, it was Tez who was the shining star. When he plays within himself, he is an incredible player. He hit a couple of clutch baskets that basically won the game for RU. At 6:30 minutes left, a 3 that gave RU a 5 point cushion they maintained, then a jumper at 3 minutes when Purdue cut it to just 1, and then the dagger at 73-68 with a minute left that put RU up 7. Mathis also had his hands all over the final rebound on the last Purdue possession An incredible stat line....9-15...5-5 from 3, 5 boards, 25 points.

Credit Mathis for bouncing back after he had a couple of bad plays in a row in this game and I will call myself out for calling him a me player. If Tez can just cut back on those plays and I think this year he really has, skies is the limit for him. I think he gets caught up in having to force plays when he gets touches. Tonight man he was marvelous.
Click to expand...
Glad you started this post. He knew tonight with Ron and Cliff out and Jacob hurting , that he was the guy to really step up . Boy , did he step up. Nothing new to me BAC. As you know I have been his biggest supporter all 3 years here. While a ton of the posters regularly rag on his play,his shooting., from 3 and the foul line , they routinely miss the toughness that he brings our team. He never backs away from a challenge and all last year in the big games , he starts out the games getting us the lead, or keeping us in it when the rest of the team has a slow start. His 3 point shooting started to really improve the last 12 games last year and it has continued this year because he has worked real hard on that stroke. He never shys away from an opportunity to take it hard to the rack , and yeah sometimes he is out of control and has not perfected how to draw or create the contact first , then explode to the hole , but he is always aggressive. He plays defense and rebounds and should rebound even more as should all our guards to help Myles, but some on this forum do not appreciate him and I hope it stops tonight. He is one tough dude and sometimes tries too hard and doesn’t let the game come to him , but he continues to get better and if we are going far this year, we are not doing it without Tez being his aggressive self. It would also help if these damn Big 10 refs who call any ******** touch foul would call the paint contact he absorbs.
 
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R

Rutgers36

All-Conference
Dec 24, 2006
936
1,269
93
Everyone stepped up and that was vital with the injuries but Tez gets star of the game. He came up huge going 5 for 5 from three!
 
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cm_13

All-American
Aug 28, 2018
2,641
5,551
73
Not much else to add here that hasn’t already been said, just adding to the praise. Tez was the difference maker in this one. He was a giant tonight.
 
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ScarletDave

ScarletDave

Heisman
Oct 7, 2010
34,599
15,353
85
Montez gets so little talk on BTN and on the interwebs but has had like 5 games of 20+ points this year. Silent killer on this team full of killers
 
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rutobs

Senior
Jan 26, 2012
322
402
63
I think its fair to say that our group of guards are the most athletic group in the Big Ten, if not top 5 in the country as a group. Not the best shooters, but just athleticism and physical defensive play. Our guards will carry this team if they play like they did in the second half; just took their guards to the woodshed in the second half.
 
L

LOU-RU85

All-Conference
Jun 3, 2001
4,688
4,428
113
ScarletDave said:
Montez gets so little talk on BTN and on the interwebs but has had like 5 games of 20+ points this year. Silent killer on this team full of killers
Click to expand...
Look, I love Mathis but this is the first game all year he broke 20. As a matter of fact, this was a career high for him. Huge game by him.
 
B

BigEastPhil

Heisman
Nov 25, 2007
19,191
13,393
66
Montez had the game of his life and stepped up when we needed him the most. Hit many clutch shots. Was glad to see it happen to our unsung hero who many times doesn't get the praise he deserves.

Montez is also a very smart player who I remember as a freshman knew all the plays and was telling his teammates where to position themselves on designed plays.
 
M

MLBash93

All-Conference
Jan 23, 2012
1,507
2,175
113
Montez played great. Just needs to stop trying to be geo and with step backs and stuff. He can drive and hit open jumpers. Don't try and play hero ball. Great game for him overall.
 
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Night Man

All-Conference
Jan 8, 2006
29,783
3,710
113
I was baffled when they mentioned that he was averaging 14 ppg going into tonight. Did I even hear that right? Least conspicuous double figure scoring I've ever seen. Anyway, tonight, he was very conspicuous. Star performance. This team has so many weapons.
 
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A

Anon1751594821

All-Conference
Jul 28, 2001
2,555
2,358
0
I think the main reason so many people don't realize how good Montez can be is that he is a very unorthodox player.

He is not real smooth, kind of herky-jerky and seems off balance many times, but Mathis has a lot of talent and we need him to play well to go very far this year.

Best of Luck,
Groz
 
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Goku

All-Conference
Jul 25, 2001
8,530
1,469
0
He knew he had to lead the box score in points and he seized the opportunity. That’s leadership. This team has so many guys who are not afraid to be “the man.”
 
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