A Close Look in at E.C. Matthews - Has #0 Finally Turned the Corner?
You can read any article that I have ever written on this website and watch me at any URI game and observe one thing; I am E.C. Matthews biggest critic (potentially out of anyone). With that said, I am an unbiased college basketball fan and I also give credit where credit is due so keep reading.
I understand where all of the love Matthews gets originates from, considering he was the Atlantic 10 rookie of the year in his first year of college basketball and he was at the forefront of URI's 2014-2015 season that ended in the 2nd round of the NIT. Not to mention, even Coach Dan Hurley said from the very beginning and with a "Dan York's State of Mind" interview with URI PA announcer, Dan York, that he never expected a heralded E.C. to ever commit to a rebuilding Rams team in 2013. For these reasons, in particular, I am just as happy as anyone else that Matthews is a Rhody Ram basketball player.
Just like any college basketball player and especially one with NBA aspirations, the criticism will come in from all directions and it will hit hard, including from me. I understand that the Michigan native suffered a brutal torn ACL last season but I also know (like the rest of the Rhode Island faithful) that his ACL was fully recovered for the very start of the season. Therefore, I gave him absolutely no leeway when he made mistakes throughout all games up to this past Friday's game at Davidson. After all, this was the same kid that many URI basketball fans and students were crying about when he tore his ACL against American last season. I may not have come close to shedding a tear but I definitely felt terrible when I saw the injury happen in front of me in the Ryan Center and sent Matthews my best wishes at the time. Nevertheless, I was expecting the same Matthews who could score with ease in his first two seasons at URI to come into this season with a fire under his belly.
Even though, he made mistakes in his freshman and sophomore year, specifically with his out-of-control dribble at times, he did not need too many improvements to be ready for the next level of basketball. In the very first two non-conference (buy) games for Rhode Island, E.C. Matthews looked like he never missed a day of basketball. Shortly thereafter, at home against Brown and in the first half of the HOF Tip-Off tournament at Mohegan Sun, he looked pretty horrendous to be quite frank. In their opening matchup of the Hall of Fame tournament, he stepped up in a big way and landed all of the crushing blows to the Cincinnati Bearcats, which allowed URI to advance to the championship game where they eventually faced the then-#1 Duke Blue Devils. Even though he struggled mightily against Duke, the rest of this current season looked bright for URI's starting small forward. By and large, he never played at the same elite level from the second half against the Bearcats besides when he played poor teams, like the Old Dominion Monarchs and the William and Mary Tribe.
In this 2016-2017 season, outside of the big second half against the Cincinnati Bearcats and some good performances against the aforementioned mediocre teams, I finally saw the E.C. Matthews of old. Not only was Matthews hitting the floaters and 3-point shots that he has been missing or barely missing all season but he was doing it with CONFIDENCE, the one characteristic that he has been continually lacking this season. Do not get me wrong, he still made a few bad mistakes (like 1-6 from the free throw line) that he needs to clean up but he actually looked like the college superstar and NBA-level talent that has rarely appeared in this current season. For example, with 4:24 left in the game, he was swatted on an ill-advised floater while Kuran Iverson was wide open on the right wing. At least on this particular play he knew the fatal blunder he made and patted his chest at the next whistle to let everyone know that he knew he just messed up. I liked seeing that because players that want to win need to be self-critical and responsible for making mistakes in big games that could potentially their team.
In all of the criticism from college basketball commentators and experts, there is a general consensus that Matthews' struggles this season has been a crisis of confidence. Well, against the Davidson Wildcats, I saw confidence from E.C. Matthews, along with a renewed swagger that has not been seen in (literally) years. First, with the game tied at 50, E.C. Matthews missed his initial layup at the rim before digging out his own offensive rebound and getting the put back and-one! This one play swung all of the momentum into URI's favor and the Rams bench erupted as a result. Next, at the 5:11 mark in the second half, following his floater that put URI up 58-54 and forced a Davidson timeout, he yelled towards the Davidson bench and the opposing crowd of 5,295 strong. I had not seen this fire all season outside of the one half in the Mohegan Sun Arena in November of 2016. Then, once Matthews knocked down a clutch 3-pointer to put URI up 61-54, the jubilation in his face was evident as he pointed at Stan Robinson for the assist he delivered. Finally, with the game in URI's total control, I was probably one of the few spectators who saw E.C. Matthews pointing at his veins, to illustrate the "ice in his veins" that he put on display for everyone watching the Atlantic 10 battle on ESPN2.
In countless games this season, I have been extremely frustrated because Matthews shied away from the big shot in the big moment. For instance, in close road games against Valparaiso and PC, he did not demand the ball to take the shots needed to win the game for his team. Any star player in basketball and any NBA player has to want to take the big shot in every big moment and not just hope he gets the ball or waits to see if he gets passed the ball. On Friday night, against Davidson, E.C. Matthews wanted the ball and was ready to step into each one of his big shots.
My question moving forward is "Will this be the E.C. Matthews that we see for every game out?" I don't know if he wore a luck pair of socks or ate a special snack before the game but whatever he did, he needs to do it for every single game he has left in his junior year. Moreover, I look forward to watching Rhody's #0 continue to work his confidence back to being at a star-level mentality and I hope that he keeps playing just like he did this past Friday.
If Matthews keeps up this exact level of play, expect the Rams to go dancing for the first time since 1999 like they have been destined to and expect a lot of smiles from me and E.C. Matthews himself.
