St. John’s basketball lands Rutgers transfer Montez Mathis

St. John’s basketball has landed Rutgers transfer Montez Mathis. 

For the second time in three days the St. John’s basketball program has added a transfer target.

The Red Storm landed a commitment from Rutgers transfer Montez Mathis on Saturday afternoon, shortly removed from the announcement of Fordham transfer forward Joel Soriano.

Mathez and Soriano are joining Vermont’s Stef Smith and Purdue’s Aaron Wheeler in Queens as transfer additions this offseason.

St. John’s beat out Clemson for the services of the former Scarlet Knight as he narrowed his options down to two on Friday afternoon.

Montez Mathis should thrive in the style of the Johnnies and could be a star in the defensive system of head coach Mike Anderson while potentially forming the best defensive back-court in the Big East with the conference’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Posh Alexander.

Mathis started the year on a major positive for Rutgers but slowly saw his stats diminish as the year progressed.

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The 6-foot-4, 210-pound guard averaged 15.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game on 46.8-percent shooting from the floor (52-of-111) and 40.5-percent from three-point range (15-of-37) through the first nine games of the season.

However, Mathis struggled towards the end of the season, averaging just 8.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 0.8 assists for his entire junior season while shooting 38.3-percent from the floor and 29.7-percent from downtown.

Concerns with newest St. John’s basketball addition

You do not have to go very far to find some concerns about the game of Montez Mathis as he is not the most consistent or reliable shooter.

As a freshman at Rutgers he shot 23.9-percent from beyond the arc and fired at a 29.7-percent clip as a sophomore and junior.

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Mathis also has poor numbers from the free throw line, shooting just 55.6-percent, 66.1-percent, and 57.4-percent across his three seasons in New Jersey.

In what would be his final game at Rutgers, Mathis put forth a great showing in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 against Houston as the Baltimore, Maryland native added ten points on 3-of-6 shooting from the floor and made both of his 3-point attempts in 23 minutes.

Despite the poor shooting numbers Montez Mathis possesses the size, speed, athleticism, and defensive ability to thrive with St. John’s asMike Anderson will properly utilize him in his system.