Another Look in at E.C. Matthews - What Will Mario Need to Do Without Luigi?
For the first time in his collegiate basketball career, E.C. Matthews will have no (predicted) partner-in-crime in the front court. An adjustment period without Hassan Martin on the floor is expected for all of the Rams players but none more so than for Matthews. The two class of 2013 recruits came in together and formed an unforgettable bond of brotherhood. Just as they desired to do when they each signed their letters of intent to URI, they captured an Atlantic 10 championship and made it into the NCAA tournament. In addition, they helped to turn around a program that was struggling and in need of saving. While Hassan Martin's historic career as a Rhode Island Ram is over, E.C. Matthews will have one more season of college basketball remaining.
Matthews may eventually find a Robin to his Batman and a Luigi to his Mario down the road but at the start of the season, the Detroit native is expected to only be backed up by his fellow guards. As everyone in the college basketball world knows, the beginning of the season is always crucial because all teams need to secure resume-building non-conference wins. Therefore, when Dan Hurley's basketball team starts out their 2017-2018 season, Matthews needs to come out hot and change his play style.
First of all, E.C. Matthews needs to play with the utmost confidence and leave all of the fears that he had in the 2016-2017 season behind. If Verne Lundquist was correct in the broadcast of the Atlantic 10 championship, then Matthews will no longer be wearing a cast around the knee where he tore his ACL in November 2015. Assuming that he no longer wears a cast, I expect that to help his confidence and enable him to attack the rim with reckless abandon, like he did in his sophomore season.
Next, the scene of him flexing against Dartmouth in the first game of the past season needs to be repeated. As much of a finesse game that Matthews is capable of, the Detroit native needs to get back to driving into the paint and scoring at will. The way that Dan Hurley's team has played while sustaining success in recent seasons means that he still needs to adapt to the hard-nosed style play of his teammates. Unlike Rhode Island's rising junior guards, Jared Terrell and Jarvis Garrett, I have and still do label Matthews as a player that is "soft". If anyone has watched Matthews play throughout the 2016-2017 season, they know what I mean. Against a tough defensive team like VCU, E.C. Matthews showed flashes of the driving, attacking ability that he needs to carry over to the upcoming basketball season.
Moreover, just like his team must do as a whole, the projected Rhode Island starting small forward needs to become a more significant defensive contributor. Even when Hassan Martin was around for his four seasons, Matthews was a considerable defensive liability, aside from a random highlight block from time to time. Injury or not, getting your ankles broken and scored on by the likes of VCU's Doug Brooks is embarrassing. No offense to Mr. Brooks but in his time at VCU, he has always been a solid defender and three-point shooter but not a slasher. I point out Doug Brooks breaking Matthews' ankles because at the very beginning of URI's monumental home game vs. VCU at the end of February 2017, Brooks hyped up his team with this play. Besides this one defensive lapse, a common occurrence in the past season was #0 giving up a whole bunch of points to his opposition. E.C. Matthews will set the tone for his team on both ends of the floor next season so he needs to act and play like it.
Without Hassan Martin, E.C. Matthews needs to elevate his game and truly prove his worth to the Rhode Island Rams men's basketball team.
