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By: LARRY VAUGHT
LEXINGTON — Freshman Charles Matthews says he was “grateful” to have former Chicago AAU teammate Tyler Ulis around at Kentucky this summer to help him and that he’s even more excited about playing with the point guard again.
“He’s a great guy and I knew what he was capable of last year, so that was no surprise to me. I knew the player he was and everybody really did not know,” said Matthews.
Kentucky coach John Calipari is glad to have Ulis, a sophomore, back playing with Matthews, too. Matthews’ recruiting ranking dropped last year due to injuries, but Calipari said it also impacted him not having Ulis to play with again.
Now NBA scouts are even raving to Calipari about Matthews’ talent.
“I told you he would kind of be a surprise because people did not realize how good he was, especially playing with Tyler. That is when I fell in love with the guy,” Calipari said Wednesday. “He is the first one in the gym, he’s the last one out of the gym at night.”
Calipari said scouts loved both him and Isaiah Briscoe and now they both have six months to improve and show the NBA personnel they are even better players.
Matthews, who verbally committed to UK during his junior year, feels he’s still under the radar with most UK fans.
“I don’t have a problem with that. I think it keeps me competitive, keeps me humble and keeps me working hard and striving to be the best I can be,” Matthews said during UK's Media Day. “ I don’t create the rankings, so I can’t tell you why I dropped last year. I just work hard and worry about things I can control.”
He said summer pickup games were competitive and fun with players “getting after each other” daily. It also gave him a chance to get to know a player like Briscoe better.
“I knew him but our relationships has continued to grow as we got here as it has with each and every guy on this team. We kind of heard of each other, but did not really get to figure each other out until now. Isaiah is a funny, high energy guy. He is a good guy. I love him. Both him and Skal (Labissiere) are funny guys).”
Matthews prides himself in winning and making winning plays.
“Regardless of what I have to do to get my team over the hump, that is what I do. As long as we win I am happy,” he said.
He credits his parents for helping shape his career and says he continues to speak to them daily back in Chicago.
“They check on me and I check on them. I am grateful to have a great mother and father both in my life,” he said.
Chicago trainer Eric Nawracaj worked with Matthews — he also worked with Ulis — to get him ready for college basketball.
“It was tough. I was extremely exhausted after workouts but it is paying off,” Matthews said. “We did a lot of work on my midrange game, a lot of conditioning and being able to last a full game and go hard the whole length of the game.”
He credits his high school coach, Gary DeCeasne of St. Rita, for preparing him defensively because he had been a college coach.
“He was never the type of guy to give special treatment to the best player. If anything, he pushed me the hardest,” Matthews said. “I was never used to getting things my way and being catered to, and that will help me a lot here. My freshman year I didn’t want to play for him. He was yelling at me for nothing. But as I matured, I saw he was a great guy and helped me mature and become much better on and off the court.”
Another former Chicago prep star, Anthony Davis, also did well at UK and now is one of the NBA’s best players. He led UK to the 2012 national championship.
“Anthony shocked everybody. Growing up not many knew him but I don’t know of many people who do not know him now. I met him several times,” Matthews said. “Chicago has so many great players. It’s hard to put on one player being the best, but he does get a lot of pub (publicity) and deserves it.”
Matthews says Lexington has been “very slow paced” compared to Chicago but he’s happy to be at Kentucky.
“Chicago is a great city, but at times it is corrupted by violence and getting out of that city, you are thankful. This is a big opportunity. I am not walking around Chicago the way I walk around Lexington. Lexington is a great city with great people and I am thankful to be here,” the UK freshman said. “I miss family, but not the weather. It is ridiculous in Chicago. I miss my hometown but I love it here.”
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