UWGB men's basketball recruit Mazae Blake could help replace loss of Kamari McGee
GREEN BAY – The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball team has landed one of its replacements for Kamari McGee.
Sophomore guard Mazae Blake announced Tuesday that he will play for the Phoenix this season after spending his first two years at Southwest Mississippi Community College.
He has three seasons of eligibility remaining.
The 6-foot-1 Blake visited campus last month and was offered a scholarship by the UWGB coaching staff April 14, two days after McGee verbally committed to Wisconsin after entering the NCAA transfer portal.
“They were the first ones to reach out to me,” Blake said. “Everyone that knows me knew that I have been slept on a long time. They were the first school to reach out with an offer, and I took that very, very seriously. They also were quick to get me out on a visit, so it shows they cared a lot about me.
“When I came to visit, everybody had real love. The questions that I asked them, they answered everything right. It was my future, my school, my academics. It wasn’t just about basketball. The basketball side of it was good. I liked the area.”
Blake should have a solid chance to win a starting spot and earn significant playing time at point guard in helping make up for the departure of McGee, who was named to the Horizon League’s all-freshman team after starting the final 21 games for UWGB last season.
That isn’t lost on Blake. He knows the opportunity he has right in front of him, and his new teammates should like playing with him and his ability to set them up.
“I’m definitely a very unselfish guard,” Blake said. “I take what the defense gives me, and I want to win. I want to get everyone involved.”
Blake averaged 12.8 points, 5.3 assists and 3.6 rebounds in 25 games in 2021-22, shooting 38.9% overall, 32.7% from 3-point range and 82.9% from the free throw line.
The Germantown, Maryland, native had some NCAA Division II and junior college offers after playing for Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, but he always dreamed of making the DI level.
He was a star during his prep days, scoring 1,126 career points and being named his team’s most outstanding player as a senior in 2019-20.
During his sophomore year, he set a program-record with 11 3s in a single game while scoring a career-high 42 points.
“Personally, I feel so relieved and blessed,” Blake said. “The route I took to get here is no other. My friends and family have seen it. They have been with me the whole way. They just have been telling me, ‘It’s time. You are here now.’
“I have got to do what I have got to do. … My coaching staff pushed me real hard. All my distractions were limited. I was on campus and in the gym, getting my schoolwork done. Getting my highest GPA I ever had, a 3.6. In the gym working every day, twice a day. Weight room. Eating right. All that helped me from military school. I am self-made.”
Blake is the fourth JUCO addition made by the Phoenix this offseason, joining Clarendon College guard Garren Davis, State College of Florida combo guard Clarence Cummings III and Indian River State College and former Denmark star Zane Short.
The quartet will be part of a roster going through another huge overhaul after seven players entered the portal and former guard Mitch Listau retired from basketball after four years at Belmont and UWGB.
Freshman forward Cem Kirciman was the latest portal entry — and all but guaranteed to be the last for this offseason — when he entered just before the May 1 deadline in which players can transfer schools and receive immediate eligibility.
The only players returning this season that have been in the UWGB program are freshman forward Cade Meyer, sophomore guards Randy Tucker and Nate Jenkins and redshirt freshman forward Brayden Dailey.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB basketball recruit Mazae Blake could help replace Kamari McGee
