Michigan Wolverines basketball landed one of the most interesting players in the NCAA portal this offseason, bringing in 7-foot-3, 255-pound UCLA center transfer Aday Mara. The Zaragoza, Spain, native is big — clearly — and extremely skilled on both ends of the floor. The current junior was also a game-changer in the second half of UCLA’s season, […]
Michigan Wolverines basketball landed one of the most interesting players in the NCAA portal this offseason, bringing in 7-foot-3, 255-pound UCLA center transfer Aday Mara. The Zaragoza, Spain, native is big — clearly — and extremely skilled on both ends of the floor.
The current junior was also a game-changer in the second half of UCLA’s season, when he started to play more and more. UCLA was 10-1 when Mara played 15-plus minutes, with the only loss coming in the NCAA Tournament second-round loss to Tennessee.
“We played against Iowa, and I didn’t play a single minute,” Mara said on the ‘Defend The Block’ podcast with Brian Boesch. “The next game was against Wisconsin, and I remember I had a really good game.”
Mara certainly did, exploding for 22 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field and 8-of-12 from the charity stripe, adding 5 rebounds and 2 blocks to earn Kenpom MVP honors in an 85-83 win at Pauley Pavilion.
“I would say that game was the game-changer that changed everything during the season,” Mara continued. “After that, they kept giving me the opportunity, and I kept showing what I was able to do. I was super happy to be able to help the team.”
But not playing as much was a big reason why Mara entered the portal after the season, and the opportunity at Michigan once he did go to free agency was too good to pass up.
“My decision to enter the transfer portal was when I saw that the second year [at UCLA], I was still without getting this opportunity to get in the games and help the team,” Mara said. “We just started thinking about it. Obviously, after the second part of the season, it was tougher because I was playing well.
“When we finished March Madness, I just wanted to go home, take a break, think about the season, these last two seasons, talk with my family and just make the best decision that I thought it was, make the right decision.”
Michigan head coach Dusty May prioritized Mara in the portal, and the two visions aligned.
“Once I entered into the transfer portal, I talked with a couple teams, but the one that I was like really, really interested in was this one,” Mara said of Michigan. “I talked with Coach, and I really liked it, just the way they play, the way they do everything. That’s why that was my final decision.”
May didn’t have to sell Mara on anything. Mara saw for himself what Michigan could do for big men, with the Wolverines winning 94-75 over the Bruins in Los Angeles Jan. 7. He took notice of the way Michigan played, and how 7-foot-1 big man Vladislav Goldin dominated with 36 points.
“Because I didn’t play a lot that game, I was watching the game, and I really liked it — the way they moved the ball, the way they played against us, the way they used the big men,” Mara said.
“When I talked to Coach, he was telling me that, that was his idea for this year. It’s very exciting for me, because I’m coming to a program that knows how to use big men and how to play with them.”
Mara averaged 6.4 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist in 13 minutes per game last season. Easily the most intriguing of those three statistics is the assist number, with Mara’s passing being a unique skill for his size.
He didn’t meet the 40 percent minutes threshold on Kenpom, but he would’ve ranked 37th in the Big Ten with his 16.6-percent assist rate a year ago. Only two players taller than 6-foot-9 check in ahead of his number — Michigan’s Danny Wolf (22.7) and Wisconsin big man Steve Crowl (18.3).
“Since I was a child and I was starting to play basketball, I always wanted to make a fancy pass,” he said. “Since I was a child, I was making all these passes. I really like it. I really prefer to make a really good assist than make, I don’t know, a basket. They always told me that when you make an assist, it makes two people happy. If you score, it’s just you.
“I really like the game when you see all this ball movement, all these passes.
“My dad told me he was a great passer. I also watch [Denver Nuggets center Nikola] Jokić and [former NBA big man] Mark Gasol highlights, so I try to emulate and recreate their passes.”
Mara noted that the entire Michigan team is unselfish, willing to share the ball, and that junior point guard Elliot Cadeau — a North Carolina transfer — is an “elite passer.” The two developed some instant chemistry on the court this summer.
“We’ve played a couple practices together, and he gave me a lot of lobs, a lot of [passes] in the pick and roll,” Mara said. “He was also cutting, and I gave him a couple of passes. I’ve really had fun playing with him, because I think he’s really smart playing in the pick and roll. I love to play with him.”
Category: General Sports
