Mathis leaving Rutgers, transferring to St. John’s
Guard Montez Mathis has transferred to St. John’s after three seasons at Rutgers.
St. John’s coach Mike Anderson announced the move on Thursday of the Baltimore native who played in 90 games and made 67 starts for the Scarlet Knights.
Mathis averaged 8.3 points and helped Rutgers advance to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in its first appearance since 1991. He shot 38.3% and averaged 2.8 boards in 21.3 minutes per game and finished in double figures 10 times, highlighted by a 25-point game in a win over Purdue.
Mathis will have two years of eligibility remaining.
“He has the ability to score and defend at a high level and he is a great fit for our program,” Anderson said. “Plus, he’s a veteran and a proven winner at the collegiate and high school levels. That’s invaluable when you’re establishing a winning culture.”
As a sophomore, Mathis started 31 games, averaging 7.4 points and 3.5 rebounds. He averaged 8.5 points as a freshman.
BARCELONA STILL WANTS SUPER LEAGUE
The ill-fated Super League has enraged fans and troubled authorities while making allies of a pair of soccer’s fiercest nemeses.
After 10 of the 12 clubs involved in the creation of the breakaway competition quickly dropped out under an escalating backlash, Barcelona president Joan Laporta emerged on Thursday as the sole supporter of the plan hatched by Real Madrid counterpart Florentino Pérez.
“It is absolutely necessary,” Laporta said on Catalan public television in his first public comments on the project. “The biggest clubs create the most financial resources and we must have our say in deciding how the earnings are shared.”
Even so, his own club issued a statement hours after he spoke that was aimed at calming tensions and promised to listen to the plan’s critics.
The six English clubs involved in the competition pulled out Tuesday amid escalating complaints from their supporters and warnings from the British government. A day later, Spanish club Atlético Madrid and the three Italian teams in the project — Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan — also opted out.
Despite being left nearly alone, Pérez — the competition’s supposed first chairman — said late Wednesday that the idea was not dead, but rather on standby.
TWO GROUPS LEAD ZURICH CLASSIC
Brice Garnett and Scott Stallings birdied eight of their last 11 holes, Viktor Hovland and Kris Ventura birdied nine of their final 12, and both teams shot 10-under 62 in Zurich Classic to share the first-round lead Thursday.
Ventura made a 36-foot birdie putt from the fringe on 15 and a 19-footer on 16 for his seventh and final birdie of the day in the best-ball format played on the first and third rounds. Players will alternate shots in the second and final rounds.