University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Maye Thrives On Raising Game
June 16, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
By Adam Lucas
Luke Maye knows he'll need to raise his level of play when he arrives at North Carolina tomorrow to begin the summer school enrollment process. But he also knows that playing well against tough competition is what landed him an opportunity with the Tar Heels in the first place.
Maye, a 6-7 forward, played his high school basketball for Hough High School outside of Charlotte, where he was a two-time all-state selection. But it was in the summer when he proved he could play at an elite level. He led his team in scoring on the Nike EYBL circuit, and then led the NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp—both events are designed for the best high school players in the country—in rebounding.
“I played really well against some of the best players in the country,” Maye said. “I felt like my game was continuing to get better and better, and it gave me a lot of confidence.”
That production led to increased recruiting attention. Luckily, Maye had an easy resource for how to handle his recruitment. His father, Mark, was a highly recruited high school quarterback who played for Dick Crum at Carolina. His mother, Aimee, was also a talented athlete but chose to attend Carolina for academics rather than play basketball elsewhere.
But Luke Maye's parents didn't serve as the Tar Heels' de facto in-house recruiting connection.
“They told me to go with my gut and go where I wanted to go,” the younger Maye said. “They told me to take my time. My dad told me some stories about Chapel Hill when I was growing up, but they both encouraged me to do what I felt was right.”
After visiting Chapel Hill on multiple occasions, meeting with the coaching staff and playing in pickup games with the current players, it soon became obvious that Carolina was what felt right. Maye committed to the Tar Heels last fall, and after graduating from Hough yesterday, will head to Carolina today to begin the move-in and enrollment process for the second session of summer school.
Maye has a background with fellow freshman Kenny Williams, as the duo were teammates at the NBPA camp. Maye feels good about the progress he made during his senior season, and thinks he'll show off an improved game in this summer's pickup games.
“I feel like I've really improved on getting to the basket,” he said. “Last year at this time I was more of a spot-up shooter, and I would get some putbacks off of offensive rebounds. I've worked on my one-dribble shot, and on getting to the basket and finishing strong. I'm trying to get my post moves where they need to be for the summer.”
As always, an important part of the transition will be improved physical conditioning. Even the most athletic high school player usually finds the conditioning demands from Roy Williams and Jonas Sahratian to be a little daunting.
“Jonas sent me some stuff to help get my body fit,” Maye said. “He said we can really get into lifting weights when I get there. I've been working on staying lean, staying fit, shooting, dribbling and working on moves to try and get better.”
But for Maye, a lifelong Magic Johnson fan who says he expects to wear number-32 for the Tar Heels, one thing won't change even once he begins the next phase of his basketball career.
“I just like to play my game and play to my strength,” he said.
Which is?
“I want to play harder than everybody else, and I want to outwork everybody.”
