Skylar Mays is rocking the “72-10 Air Jordan 11s” against Wofford in his first college game.
He has never made a collegiate basket, going 0-for his first-3 and with LSU gridlocked with Wofford 21-21 on opening night, it was the freshman’s moment.
Mays doesn’t quite remember the sequence or the possession but he does remember the result, a layup. A layup that put LSU up 23-21 but it would take eight more points and six assists for LSU to pull away in the second half and win 91-69.
Mays has been through the ultimate highs his three years at LSU and equally disappointing lows. That basket was the first of 256 points Mays scored in his freshman season, where the Tigers finished a forgetful 10-21 and 2-16 in the SEC.
The now junior guard has talked about how tough that inaugural season was but that it taught him about how to deal with failure in life.
This season has been a complete 180 not only for Mays but the team as well. After dealing with unimaginable heartache when best friend and teammate Wayde Sims passed away in September, Mays has endured a career year averaging 13.6 points per game with over two steals.
Two years after one of the worst seasons in program history, the Tigers are competing for an SEC title and Mays understands the moment in front of him, knowing what the other side feels like.
“That’s what our eyes are on, we kind of control our own destiny,” Mays said. “Obviously we have to take it one game at a time but I mean it’s right there in our reach so I think we’ll be playing harder and harder the closer we get.”
The 377 points he’s scored this season are more than his freshman and sophomores seasons with still three games to go in the regular season.
“It means the world,” Mays said. “I think it is just a sign of hard work paying off. I am happy to be in that club. I want to thank everybody for passing me the ball and getting me open looks. I am kind of speechless.”
Tuesday night was a different feeling altogether. Needing just three points to become the 41st player in LSU history to eclipse the 1,000 career points mark, Mays took a few minutes to settle into the game before taking a shot.
A driving layup right in the teeth of the Aggie defense put LSU up eight in the first half and brought Mays to career point 999. After a little too much chirping from Aggie forward John Walker, the freshman was given a technical that sent Mays to the free throw line.
The junior drained both technicals that put him over the hump and gave the Tigers a 12 point lead in the first half.
“It’s just another record for him, it’s kind of apropos he made it on a free throw,” Wade said. “Very very happy for him, it just shows his consistency and how hard he works. He’ll be moving on up, plenty of more points to score.”
Mays had no idea how close he was to that benchmark in his LSU career but found out after the game from sports information director Kent Lowe.
Wade said since the day he’s arrived on campus Mays has been “his kind of guy” and said he was instrumental in helping the team adapt to the new coaching staff.
“He wasn’t very hard to win us over,” Wade said. “I’ll never forget my second day, we had meetings with him and he asked in an individual meeting if I’d work him out that afternoon. From then on forward I knew he was our type of guy. I mean it was really simple because you don’t have to win them over if they’re your type people.”
