Yante Maten should compete for many awards and accolades this season, but he is only focused on one thing going into senior year with the Georgia men’s basketball program.

 

Maten was already named the SEC’s preseason co-player of the year along with Missouri freshman Michael Porter Jr. and Texas A&M sophomore Robert Williams and also named preseason first-team All-SEC. This should be the first of many accomplishments for Maten, but he made it clear that he wants to win this season.
 
 
When he was asked what he was focusing on for the upcoming season and he gave a one-word answer that was straight and to the point, “Winning,” said Maten. Maten and the Bulldogs should be in the position to compete for a spot in the NCAA tournament, which they narrowly missed last season.
 
 
His focus on earning more victories this season led to Maten putting in a lot of work this offseason, but he did not narrow his focus on improving one single skill set, rather he focused on improving his all-around game.
 
 

“I don’t wanna say it was just one thing I worked on, it was multiple things,” said Maten. “My shot, making sure I was still finishing plays at the same rate, and trying to make sure my interior post game was solid and just trying to do little things, defending, it wasn’t just one thing.”

 
 
Maten was one of the SEC’s best all-around players last season as he finished with 18.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. The Bulldogs frontcourt of Maten and Derek Ogbeide should be relied on heavily this season and their success could be the difference between wins and losses.
 
 
Maten has put in a lot of work this past offseason and if he is able to make his hard work pay off, then he could not only earn more accolades but perhaps lead his team to more wins and even their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2015.
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
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