Greg Mays Regaining Confidence at Crucial Time

GREEN BAY, Wis.–

Every basketball fan knows that a player will hit a slump at some point in their career. It’s the truth, you know it, I know it, slumps are a common factor of basketball. What happens when you are that player, your coach will give you a reason you need to get out of that slump. Odds are, you’ll see a lot more bench time than you will time on the court. That was exactly the case for Green Bay forward Greg Mays two weeks ago, when Mays did something to set head coach Brian Wardle at the point where after one-minute and thirty-something seconds in the final non-conference game of the season, Greg Mays was pulled out; for the remaining 37 and-something minutes.

After the Chicago State game on December 31st, coach Brian Wardle was asked, “What does Greg [Mays] have to do to fix what he did wrong?” Wardle kept it short and not-so-sweet, saying just, “Play better.”

Mays must’ve been eavesdropping, because he did just that. Conference play began five days later, when Green Bay hosted a solid Wright State team. Mays dropped 10 points, and snagged five boards, along with throwing away five shots.

From there, it only got better. When Green Bay traveled two and a half hours south to Milwaukee that Friday, Mays put up his first double-double since November, dropping 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Two days later, the Phoenix were back in action, hosting Youngstown State. You guessed it, Mays improved on the scoring side of things. Mays was one point short of tying his career-high, totalling 23 points to go with eight rebounds.

“I feel like myself again,” Mays told me after the 82-67 win over Youngstown State, “I feel like I’m kind of in a rhythm now and I’m just going to try to take this momentum and keep moving forward.”

“He (Greg Mays) always responds.” -Brian Wardle

Respond he did. Respond is what he hopes to continue to do as conference play rolls on for the Phoenix as they try to repeat as Horizon League champions. Receiving three votes in AP Top 25 poll this week is a solid start on Green Bay’s journey to the NCAA tournament.

~Alex Strouf (@LetsGoAlex)