Maten Becoming A Star for Georgia Basketball

After a decent freshman season, sophomore Yante Maten is coming into his own as full-time starter for the Georgia basketball team.

Related: Georgia Basketball Wins Against Winthrop

Yante Maten’s path to Georgia has been well documented. The Michigan product was a sought after three-star athlete coming out of Bloomfield Hills High School. In his senior season, he was named the Gatorade High School Player of the Year in the state.

He totaled 19.8 points, 15.2 rebounds, 6.6 blocks and 4.8 assists per game and led his 24-4 team to a Michigan Class A state title in 2014. In addition to Georgia, he also received offers from powerhouse Michigan State and Indiana. So how did this Northern star wind up playing for the up-in-coming Bulldogs from the SEC?

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Many times in recruiting athletes choose a school based solely on the athletic program. On ESPN, they never talk about a player’s potential to sign with a school because of their academic endeavors. Well in the case of Maten, the academics were a huge selling point on his path to UGA.

Maten’s major, wild life & fisheries, is not offered at the Northern schools that wanted him. When he visited Athens, he not only fell in love with the school and the basketball program, but he also saw his potential academically. If coming to a program with a less-than-stellar basketball history was not impressive enough, it says even more about Maten’s character to consider his academics in his recruiting decision.

Expectations were high for Maten when he arrived on campus last season. The squad had a great deal of senior leadership, and they had the potential to make some noise in the SEC.

After slowly working his way into playing more minutes, Maten showed sparks of his potential. Although he averaged just five points and 4.3 rebounds per game, the young power forward was a key piece to the tournament-bound Bulldogs.

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With starting big men Marcus Thornton and Nemanja Djurisic graduating following the 2014-2015 season, Maten was looked to as the premiere low-block option for the team heading into the 2015-2016 campaign.

Although the Bulldogs may have gotten off to a slow start losing three of their first six games, Maten’s production has been nothing short of dazzling. The sophomore has come into his own as a regular starter in his second season. In the team’s eight games he is averaging 31.4 minutes, 16.9 points and eight rebounds, leading the team in all three categories.

He has four games with 20 or more points, including a season-high 24 in a 74-64 win over Winthrop. Also, with state bragging rights on the line Saturday, he put up 17 points on 8/11 shooting as the Bulldogs defeated Georgia Tech 75-61.

Maten has shown his ability to learn from last year and take advantage of becoming a full-time starter. Along with experienced guards Charles Mann and J.J. Frazier and forward Kenny Gaines, the Bulldogs big four can compete with anyone in the conference. At 5-3 and winners of two straight, Georgia can continue gaining momentum into SEC play with big wins over Clemson and Robert Morris to close out December.