It has been quite an eventful year for Georgia’s Yante Maten.
The freshman forward ended up starting a couple of games for the Bulldogs, recorded the first “double-double” of his career in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals, and, of course, there was that time in January when he was struck by car in a campus crosswalk and had to sit out with a concussion. Only a minor misfortune that potential tragedy turned out to be.
And now there’s this: This kid from Pontiac, Mich., the kid who was the Gatorade Player of the Year in that state, the kid who grew up wearing Spartans’ green and whose mother graduated from Michigan State, gets to play Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament.
The Spartans (23-11) and Georgia (21-11) meet in the first round at 12:40 p.m. Friday at Time Cable Arena in Charlotte, N.C. And Maten and his mom couldn’t be more thrilled about it.
“There was a lot of screaming going on,” Maten said of his first conversation with his mom, Toiya Paige, about the teams being pitted together. “We’re not really sure what was happening or who said what at the moment, but it was fun.”
Had Michigan State just thought a little more about Maten and maybe recruited him a little earlier and a little harder, Maten might indeed be playing there. But so late were the Spartans with coming forth with a scholarship for the late-blooming Maten that it really came down to Georgia and Indiana in the end.
That Maten chose the Bulldogs is something that still baffles Maten’s friends back home.
“In our home, we’re very strong Christians,” Maten said. “Of course we weighed the options and the advantages and disadvantages of each one. But it all really came down to when we prayed to God and which one he was leading us to. And me and my mom both heard ‘Georgia.’ So that’s where we decided to come.”
Paige relocated to Athens, and Maten has developed into the type of player the Bulldogs know they’ll be able to count on going forward.
Playing behind seniors Nemi Djurisic and Marcus Thornton, Maten’s minutes have come mainly as a reserve. But he has played in 31 of 32 games, leads the team in blocks with 44 and averages 5.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in 19 minutes of play per game.
“He’s better than I expected,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo told reporters Tuesday. “He’s done a nice job for them. I think Mark has done a good job with him. I think he’s grown a little bit, but he’s going to be a very good player there. I really like him.”
Maten understandably is excited about the game and expects it will be “a good game.” He said he doesn’t think he necessarily has anything to prove. Neither does Georgia coach Mark Fox.
“Obviously growing up in that state, this is a game people will talk about,” Fox said. “I don’t think if we played the Montenegro national team that Nemi would be overly excited. That’s just another small part of the game. It’s still basketball.”
Bucklin has scoop on Izzo: Izzo is a legend in college basketball. But to Georgia's Matt Bucklin, he's just his uncle.
Bucklin, a former Bulldogs player who now serves as UGA’s “operations coordinator,” is related to Izzo. His mother, Mary Bucklin, is Izzo’s sister. Consequently, Bucklin has known the man his whole life.
But that won’t necessarily translate into a competitive advantage for the Bulldogs.
“To be honest, ever since I became a member of the Georgia basketball program, I haven’t been able to watch them as much,” Bucklin said. “We know what their program is built on and that’s toughness and defending and rebounding and doing the little things. That’s essentially what we want our program to be about, too. But plays, personnel, I can’t speak to that very much.”
Bucklin was a walk-on out of Pope High who earned a scholarship as a reserve point guard with the Bulldogs. He served the staff the past two years as a graduate assistant before being promoted into a full-time position this past year. He’d like to one day be a head coach.
Etc.: The Bulldogs departed for Charlotte at 5 p.m. Wednesday after practicing for two hours at their Stegeman practice facility. … Georgia guard Kenny Gaines, who missed the SEC Tournament quarterfinals Saturday with a sprained left foot, was expected to participate in that workout. He will play Friday, but is not expected to be 100 percent. … Georgia will hold an open practice at Time Warner Cable Arena from noon to 12:40 p.m. Thursday.
