Matthews stuffs the stat sheet in win against North Texas
Cam Matthews. Glue Guy.
Cameron Matthews finished with nine points, 12 boards, seven assists, five steals and three blocks in a 72-54 victory over the North Texas Mean Green on Sunday at Cadence Bank Arena in Tupelo, Mississippi.
In college basketball, the ever-important “glue guy” is a necessity to winning at a high level, and Matthews is just that for Mississippi State. His athletic ability and sheer size allows him to have a versatility that is highly sought after in today’s landscape, and Bulldogs head coach Chris Jans knows it.
“It’s all over the floor,” Jans said after the team’s win on Sunday. “You know, he flirted with a triple double, could have maybe gotten one of those tonight. He was different today. His motor was revved, he had a chip on his shoulder, and I think that led us to play a little bit harder.”
Matthews is currently averaging 9.6 points per contest, 6.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists on 55.9% shooting. On Sunday, he finished with as near as makes no difference points, more rebounds, more assists, more steals and more blocks, and his head coach had plenty to rib him about after the game.
“It’s like when you’re running sprints in practice and, all of a sudden, they’re running and running and running and they’ll run one that’s three or four seconds faster than they normally do,” said Jans, “and I’m like ‘the cat’s out of the bag now, man. What are you doing? You have it in there, let’s use it all the time,’ and (Matthews) is the same way.”
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Another part of being the “glue guy” is how you bond with your teammates, and Matthews apparently does that part to a “T” as well. When he was asked about who had helped Keshawn Murphy, who had a career high and team-leading 18 points in the win over North Texas, Jans said that Tolu Smith and Matthews had been the biggest help.
“(Tolu Smith and Cam Matthews) are the ones that stick out to me,” said Jans. “You can just see those guys continue to encourage him, especially when he was starting to transition back to the court.”
Those glue guys are what it takes when teams get into March, and if that’s where Mississippi State hopes to wind up (and it is), Matthews will have to be an essential part of those efforts.
