Matt Mayers hits his stride despite early-season struggles

Ethan Morrison

When Matt Mayers joined the Robert Morris program on May 2, many thought that he would be playing behind an already loaded frontcourt that included Kahliel Spear, Mattia Acunzo, Brandon Stone, and Justin Winston.

Throughout the young season, Mayers has carved himself a huge role and his production is paying dividends for a team that has struggled early on in the season.

During the first 10 or so games this season Mayers got minutes sporadically, but over the past four games he has seen a recent uptick in minutes and Mayers has made the most of it, reaching double figures in the past two contests.

Colonial Sports Network had the chance to catch up with Mayers after Robert Morris’ 75-67 win over Saint Francis Wednesday night.

Mayers discussed his development from the beginning of the season until now.

“I’ve just been trying to continue to put work in,” Mayers said, “It’s been rough from the beginning of the season until now and it’s been a struggle, but I just keep picking up the pieces keep working in the gym and now the results are here.”

Over the last two games, Mayers has cracked the starting lineup and he produced at a high level.

He racked up 15 points in the Sunday matinee against Bowling Green and a career-high 16 points and 11 rebounds Wednesday night against Saint Francis.

Head coach Andy Toole spoke on Mayers’ development throughout the season.

“He has to keep growing, Matt hasn’t played the game very long. This is his first experience in Division I. He has to keep growing and keep learning,” Toole said. “Matt has some stuff that you can’t teach like length, size and great touch. If he can keep learning to grow and getting some confidence and build on these efforts, I think he becomes a really good player if he continues to work.”

Even though Mayers has found recent success, he explained the team’s struggles throughout the non-conference slate.

“We just have to come together as a team, this is a whole new team and with COVID-19 and more cases coming up we have just had to be able to get used to playing with each other and we just have to keep working and keep building chemistry as a team.”

With conference play once again looming on the horizon, Mayers expressed how important their win over Saint Francis was for the team.

“It is a huge win for us tonight, especially with everyone going home seeing their family and friends, so it’s just a big win for us leading into conference play.