Trojans standout Jonah Mathews pens farewell letter
Jonah Mathews didn't get the ending he wanted -- a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament once more as a senior -- due to the ongoing nationwide coronavirus pandemic.
But his Trojans finale was fitting nonetheless as the senior guard drained the game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds to beat rival UCLA in the last regular-season game, before the rest of the Pac-12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament were cancelled.
On Friday, Mathews penned a farewell letter to USC on the Trojans' official athletics site as he prepares to move on to the next stage of his basketball career.
"To be honest, the shot was like a workout shot. I remember doing that shot with Coach [Chris] Capko a thousand times this summer and during the season. When I shot it, it felt so natural. Going left and stepping back, it felt so natural. I was like ‘OK, this is for sure going in,'" Mathews wrote in the letter.
"And when it did, I wasn’t even excited. I don’t know how to describe the feeling. I feel like it was just destined to happen. That’s what Daniel Utomi told me. He wasn’t even surprised. He just said ‘Something was destined to happen today, so when you hit it, I wasn’t surprised that you made it.’"
Mathews had earlier that game broke USC's career 3-point shooting record, finishing with 247 to slide past former teammate Elijah Stewart's 245.
Mathews went on to talk about the abruptness of realizing later that was the last shot he'd take for the Trojans.
"I had a whole vision of what the season was going to be like after I hit that shot. I was thinking we’d have a bye in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament. We’d play, we’d get a win, we’d have a path to the Pac-12 Championship. We’d go up against Oregon on a neutral court without Chris Duarte. If we win the Pac-12 Tournament, we’d get a six seed. We’d play a team that was OK, but not better than us, in the first two rounds. And then the Sweet 16," he wrote.
"That’s what was going through my head the next day. I wasn’t even thinking about the shot anymore, I was just thinking about what the season had in store for us. Now that we’re on this roll, winning three games in a row and all locked in. And then all the craziness happened."
He noted that teammate Nick Rakocevic woke up him that Thursday morning two weeks ago to let him know the Pac-12 Tournament was cancelled. Later that day, the NCAA Tournament would be cancelled as well. And that reality is still sinking in for the players, Mathews wrote.
"I’ve been trying to stay positive, but the more and more I think about it, I feel like … What could have been? That’s the worst feeling," he wrote. "My whole senior year, my dad said, ‘You don’t want to look back on your senior year and think, what could have been? What more could I have done?’ That’s what really pushed me in the second half of the Pac-12 season to make a statement and make a mark. But I know I did everything I could."