Lions must try to stifle Renaissance man Mullery in Saturday’s game

The man does it all. Brown’s senior Matt Mullery is the basketball equivalent of the Renaissance man. The 6-foot-8 forward leads his team in nearly every statistical category, from points to blocked shots. It’s safe to say that Mullery is the backbone of the Bears.

Mullery attended St. John Vianney High School in New Jersey, where he lettered in basketball for four years. As a senior, Mullery put up some impressive stats, including 22.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game. His solid play in his final year earned him the Monmouth County Player of the Year award. However, that accomplishment pales in comparison to his standing as St. John Vianney High School’s all-time leading scorer with 1,522 career points.

As a freshman at Brown, Mullery quickly made his impact on the team, playing in 27 games, including nine starts his first year. As a sophomore, Mullery’s defensive game improved dramatically, as he led the Ivy League in blocked shots with 1.48 per game. However, it wasn’t until his third year that his game was taken to the next level. As a junior, Mullery averaged 16.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, while leading the team in total blocked shots with 59.

After drawing the attention of the rest of the Ivy League as a junior, Mullery has had to adapt to increased defensive pressure by involving his teammates. While his points-per-game average fell to 15.2 as a senior, Mullery has dished out many more assists, leading the team with 80. However, the increase in assists has been coupled with an increase in turnovers—he leads the team with 80. This poor assist-to-turnover ratio appears to be his biggest weakness, one that the Lions can exploit to their advantage. Defensively, though, Mullery is just as dominant as ever. He leads the team with 44 blocks, and is second in steals with 20.

The last time Columbia faced Brown was Feb. 5 in Levien Gym. The Lions fell behind early but were dominant in the second half, resulting in an 11 point victory over the Bears. In that contest, Mullery finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. Though he shot fairly well in the game—50 percent from the field—the Lions were able to limit his playmaking ability as Mullery finished with just one assist.

This Saturday, the Light Blue will hit the road to face Mullery and the Bears in their last game of the season. If Columbia wants to finish with a win, it will have to slow down Mullery and prevent him from filling up the stat sheet.