Yante Maten: Georgia Bulldogs’ non-conference MVP
By John Buhler
Yante Maten was a huge reason the Dawgs look like a team more than ready to battle in SEC play, as Maten was the team’s best player in the non-conference.
Entering the 2015-16 NCAA season for the Georgia Bulldogs, fans knew that the backcourt trio of J.J. Frazier, Kenny Gaines, and Charles Mann was special. All three guards start in the UGA backcourt and have all shown over the last two plus years that they can carry the Georgia Bulldogs any night on the hardwood.
What fans didn’t know was how the Dawgs were going to respond in the frontcourt in 2015-16 after losing Nemanja Djurisic, Cameron Forte, and Marcus Thornton from the year before. UGA may have had terrific guard play, but it has been great rebounding and a convincing low post presence that has helped head coach Mark Fox win 20 games in back-to-back seasons for only the second time in school history.
Part of what made the non-conference part of the Georgia Bulldogs’ season this winter what the elevated play of sophomore forward Yante Maten: the MVP of the team in the non-conference in 2015.
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Maten in the Georgia Bulldogs’ 11 non-conference games has already exceeded his freshman point total of 160 by three points. He is averaging a team-high 16.3 points per game and a team-high 7.5 points per game in 29.0 minutes per contest. Yante Maten is shooting .580 from the field, .592 from two, and .783 from the free throw line. He is also averaging 2.0 blocks, 0.7 assists, and 0.4 steals per game for the Dawgs.
Yante Maten’s advanced metrics are staggering. He PER is well above the set standard of 15.0 at 26.2. His effective field goal percentage is a fantastic .634. Maten has equaled his win shares from his freshman season in Athens at 1.5. His offensive rating is through the roof at 116.1 and even his already impressive defensive rating is lower than last year’s 95.8 at 95.4.
More important than any stats is the inside presence that Yante Maten gives the Georgia Bulldogs. His ability to shoot from a high percentage in and around the paint gives Fox and the rest of the Dawgs more balance than they had intended entering SEC play.
Maten should he have a strong showing in SEC play this year could become the Georgia Bulldogs’ best big man since Trey Thompkins in 2010, who went in the second round to the Los Angeles Clippers.
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With a backcourt as impressive as the one Georgia possesses, it is even more astounding that Yante Maten would have collectively eclipsed all three (Frazier barely) in the non-conference part of the season. As the calendar turns to 2016, one would have great difficulty finding a more improved basketball player in the SEC than in Yante Maten. Maten and the Dawgs open SEC play tomorrow in Gainesville when they take on the Florida Gators Saturday night. Go Dawgs!