Milwaukee Bucks: Get to know wing Wesley Matthews

College

I’ll take the time to round up the key details of Matthews’ college career here but, truth be told, there’s a good chance that most Bucks fans will know all about it already.

Marquette completed a full four-year term at Marquette, showing significant development across his tenure with the Golden Eagles, and eventually finishing as a true standout under the guidance of Buzz Williams in his final season and earning Second Team All-Big East honors.

Matthews’ stay at Marquette landed somewhat in between the two most recent high points in the program’s history. Playing with the Golden Eagles from 2005 until 2009, Matthews was a couple of years too late to play alongside Dwyane Wade and play a part in the Final Four run under Tom Crean, and a couple of years too late for Marquette’s two most recent regular season Conference Championships and trips beyond the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Darius Johnson-Odom and Jae Crowder would also miss playing with Matthews, arriving a couple of years later to the Cream City. Still, Matthews played with many memorable Golden Eagles during a spell that represented one of the most notably strong recruiting eras in Marquette history.

Matthews overlapped with future Buck Steve Novak for two seasons, while perhaps most memorably, he teamed alongside Dominic James and Jerel McNeal. Collectively, the three guards that defined those Marquette teams went on to be known as the “Three Amigos”.

The biggest of the three, it was that lineup that offered Matthews meaningful reps at small forward and set the tone for the role that would become a staple of his pro career.

For the entirety of his time at Marquette, Matthews averaged 13.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 steals in 30.2 minutes per game, while shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 34.1 percent from deep.

For the most part, those numbers offered a rough sketch of what Matthews would become as a pro, with the exception of his shooting, which improved dramatically once he earned an opportunity in the NBA.

All four of Matthews’ seasons at the Bradley Center resulted in trips to the NCAA Tournament, with first round losses as a freshman and sophomore, and second round losses as a junior and senior. Of course, the latter of those came under particularly contentious circumstances against Missouri, marking an unceremonious end to Matthews’ college career.