Ben Simmons, Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, Dante Exum, Aron Baynes – Australians are killing it in the NBA and Orange’s Matt Gray will take his next step toward joining that list this weekend, he flies out to link with Drake University next week after his Bathurst Goldminers swansong on Saturday night.
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Starting spots are hard to come by as a freshman so I’ll just work hard and hopefully pick up some minutes.
- Matt Gray
Well, the NBA is certainly his end goal anyway, but the 202 centimetre, 18-year-old forward is fully aware that’s a long, long way down the track.
For now he’s focused on settling in at Drake, trying to impress the college’s brand-new coaching staff during summer training and then, hopefully, earning plenty of minutes in the Bulldogs’ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 Missouri Valley Conference campaign.
“It’s come up really quickly.. I’m really excited but a little bit nervous too,” Gray said.
“I’ve got a few days to settle in and then summer school starts.There’s two months worth of classes and team training there. I come back to Australia for a little bit in August and then I’ll go back for the season.”
He also admitted to being somewhat relieved to still have an opportunity with Drake too, after Bulldogs’ head coach Niko Medved and his assistants left the program to take up a post at Colorado State.
Gray was one of seven freshman Medved had recruited to Drake, the Orange Eagles product is now the only first-year on the roster.
“The new coach, Darian DeVries, was an assistant at Creighton for 17 years was happy for me to stay in the program.
“There’s a more even spread across years now with the new group, and that just means I’ll have to work harder.”
Gray’s assuming a lot of that hard work in the pre-season will be adding weight to his already-hulking frame, before the Bulldogs try to improve on their fourth finish in the conference come the season-proper.
“I think they’ll try and bulk me up a bit,” he laughed.
“Outside that it’s just preparing for the season. Starting spots are hard to come by as a freshman so I’ll just work hard and hopefully pick up some minutes.
“The main goal will be to win the conference and then there’s the (NCAA) tournament from there, but winning will be tough because Loyola Chicago are in our conference and they made the final four this year.”
But, of course, before he goes he has one more job to do with his beloved Goldminers when they host the Moss Vale Magic at Bathurst Indoor Sports Stadium on Saturday night.
Gray dropped 38 the last time his Goldminers played the Magic, way back in round four, leading the Bathurst outfit to a 104-79 win.
The Goldminers face the Magic from 6pm on Saturday night, Gray flies out next Wednesday.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
