What might have been an overwhelming situation for most first-year college basketball players no matter their background was merely a welcome to the big time for Nick Mayo.
The 2015 Gatorade Maine Player of the Year and Bangor Daily News first-team All-Maine choice from Messalonskee High School in Oakland had graduated from tourney fever at the Augusta Civic Center to facing 22,544 mostly hostile fans at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, home of the University of Kentucky Wildcats.
But the 6-foot-9-inch Mayo, immediately thrust into the starting lineup as a freshman at Eastern Kentucky University in nearby Richmond, Kentucky, performed during that Dec. 9 contest not merely as though he belonged on the NCAA Division I scene, but with the promise of much more to come.
“It was really fun,” said Mayo, who this week was named Ohio Valley Conference freshman of the year as well as first team all-conference for his play as the Colonels’ starting center. “I had never played in an environment like that, obviously, but it was cool.
“There wasn’t much maroon [and white, Eastern Kentucky’s school colors] in the stands, but we played a pretty solid game,” Mayo said. “It would have been cool to come out of there with a win but it was crazy being in there with fireworks going off during the introductions and everything else.”
Mayo scored nine points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field and grabbed three rebounds in 25 minutes against the Wildcats, who pulled away for an 88-67 victory.
But it was enough to impress first-year Eastern Kentucky coach Dan McHale.
“When we played Kentucky at Rupp Arena, that’s when I knew Nick was a big-time player,” McHale said. “Not many freshmen are going to be able to go up against what at the time was the No. 2 or 3 team in the country with all the hype around Skal Labissiere and all their other guys, but Nick went out there as poised as could be and played really well.
“He had a little foul trouble, but I know that when most 18- or 19-year-old kids go to Rupp, they’re fazed, but it was like another ballgame for Nick.”
The only Eastern Kentucky player to start all 31 games this winter, Mayo went on to average 14.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 60.7 percent from the field, 55.6 percent from 3-point land and 80.2 percent from the free-throw line.
“I was just so impressed with how much better Nick got during the course of the year,” McHale said. “What makes him special in my opinion is that he doesn’t get too high, he doesn’t get too low. He’s so poised and that’s why he was able to perform under pressure like he did.
“I enjoyed coaching him more than any kid I’ve been around.”
Mayo became one of just two freshmen in the last five years to be named first-team All-Ohio Valley Conference — joining former Murray State guard and NBA first-round draft pick Cameron Payne, now of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“I just had to get used to playing at that level every day,” Mayo said. “I was going up against bigger, stronger, older, more athletic players, guys who are 22 or 23 years old and I’m only 18.
“Really, confidence was a big part of it, believing in myself that I can play at this level with great players. Once the confidence got into me it was just all work ethic, working hard every day, getting into the gym and trying to improve myself.”
Mayo’s field-goal percentage ranked fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference and 18th among NCAA Division I players nationally. Mayo also ranked second in field-goal percentage and 18th in total points (450) among all Division I freshmen nationwide.
“I just wanted him to come in and anchor the middle,” McHale said. “We didn’t have anyone on our roster bigger than 6-foot-7, so I knew he was going to play. I didn’t know how much I could rely on him at first but he went from a guy I penciled in as my starting center to my No. 1 option pretty much midway through the year. I had some good pieces around him, but he became the guy and he embraced it.”
Mayo’s numbers all increased during conference play, with his scoring average improving to 16.6 points per game to rank ninth in the league while he was fourth in field-goal percentage (61.7) and fifth in blocks (1.4 per game).
The lone frustration for Mayo was that the Colonels failed to qualify for the Ohio Valley Conference tournament for the first time in 14 years, finishing the season at 15-16 overall, 6-10 in league play.
“Overall, I wish we would have had a better record to make the tournament, but this was the first year with a whole new coaching staff and new players,” Mayo said. “We played well at times and we had a lot of really close games that we lost at the buzzer or in the last minute that could have changed the whole season if we could have come up with wins, but it was a fun year.”
Mayo chose Eastern Kentucky over eight other Division I scholarship offers he received after helping the Maine Athletic Club 17-and-under AAU team coached by Carl Parker finish 11th in the 2014 AAU 11th-Grade National Championships held in Louisville, Kentucky.
But the formal relationship got off to an uncertain start late last March when the head coach who recruited Mayo to Eastern Kentucky, Jeff Neubauer, left after 10 years to take the same job at Fordham University.
McHale, a former assistant coach at Minnesota and Louisville who was a student team manager for four years during his undergraduate days at Kentucky, was hired to replace Neubauer barely a week later.
One of his first moves as the Colonels’ head coach was to travel to Maine — where his parents have a summer home on Little Sebago Lake — to visit Mayo and his family and assure the recruit of his continuing importance to Eastern Kentucky’s basketball future.
“I knew right away when I met with him and his family that he came from a great family, and that was important me,” McHale said. “I also knew he cared about winning, he values winning.
“I had watched a lot of film of him and I knew he was a great athlete who can run the floor and can outrun most guys his size. He also had great hands, he can catch anything and he made my guards look that much better this year because the ball could be at his knees or way above his head and he still was going to catch it.”
McHale now is recruiting in advance of the spring National Letter of Intent signing period in April, and one of his primary goals has Mayo in mind.
“I want Nick to become more of a stretch-4 [forward],” he said. “I think that’s his natural position, I’ve told him that and I’ve told his parents that so that’s my primary focus, to get another big guy in here to compliment him.”
Mayo will stay in Kentucky for most of the summer, where his workouts will include playing with and against stars from both Kentucky and Louisville.
“I’m looking forward to that,” he said “They’re going to make me better because they’re great players themselves, so having that opportunity will be great.”
But first he’ll return to Maine in a week during Eastern Kentucky’s spring break, marking the first time he’s been back home for an extended period since the end of workouts last summer save for a four-day respite around Christmas.
Then it will be back to work for Mayo, with an offseason regimen, including weight training and individual skill development.
“I think if he improves his rebounding numbers and gets counters to his post moves because teams are going to start taking away his initial move or favorite moves, the sky’s the limit for him,” said McHale, whose team will play Manhattan College in New York City next winter and also is seeking a game against a Boston-area opponent on Mayo’s behalf.
“He has such a passion for the game and he’s an even better kid off the court,” he said. “You add that passion with his athleticism, his hands and his footwork and you’ve got a special kid.”
