{"id":186359,"date":"2026-02-20T18:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T18:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/186359\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T18:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T18:19:07","slug":"uc-san-diego-has-starter-future-star-in-freshman-hudson-mayes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/186359\/","title":{"rendered":"UC San Diego has starter, future star in freshman Hudson Mayes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hudson Mayes was always going to be a starter for UC San Diego\u2019s basketball team.<\/p>\n

The only question, really, was when.<\/p>\n

\u201cHudson is one of the higher high school recruits we\u2019ve ever had,\u201d coach Clint Allard said. \u201cHe\u2019s also one of the most prepared freshmen I\u2019ve ever seen as well as one of the best guard rebounders and natural defenders.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Allard was asking Mayes to make a major positional change as he transitioned from one of California\u2019s top high school programs to Division I. Mayes played all over at Redondo Union High School, sometimes guarding the post on defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt UCSD,\u201d he said, \u201cthey want me to handle the ball and be a playmaker \u2026 have my hands on the ball at the top of the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allard said Mayes was \u201cmore prepared than most\u201d to make the switch in his first college season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more we see of him, the more we like his skills,\u201d the coach said. \u201cAnd Hudson has skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was apparent when Mayes first started working out with the Tritons last summer, shortly after turning 18. And it has become clear to everyone since he moved into UCSD\u2019s starting lineup five games ago.<\/p>\n

Since becoming a starter, Mayes has averaged 14.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game while playing 32 minutes a night as the Tritons\u2019 most productive player.\u00a0 He scored 42 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished seven assists in a pair of UCSD wins last week. On Monday, he was named the Big West Conference\u2019s player of the week.<\/p>\n

\"HudsonHudson Mayes #0 of UC San Diego celebrates on the court during their game against San Diego at LionTree Arena on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Mayes and the Tritons (18-9, 8-7) travel to UC Irvine on Saturday night to take on the Big West-leading Anteaters (18-9, 11-4). Irvine won the first meeting between the teams 61-59 on Jan. 24. Mayes had 12 points and three rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench. Five days later, he cracked the starting lineup for the first time.<\/p>\n

Those close to Mayes aren\u2019t surprised by his rise. Mayes started as a high school freshman for a Fairfax High School team that won a CIF Southern Section title. He transferred to Redondo Union, where he was named league MVP and an All-CIF pick as a senior.<\/p>\n

Plus, he comes from a family of athletes. Mayes\u2019 father, Derrick, is a former NFL wide receiver. His mother, Gayle Brown-Mayes, was a basketball and track star in high school. Mayes\u2019 grandfather, Roger Brown, was a star in the American Basketball Association and is a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cI come from a very athletic family that believed a strong education was critically important,\u201d said Hudson, who is studying international business at UCSD\u2019s acclaimed Thurgood Marshall College.<\/p>\n

Allard called Mayes \u201cvery smart and well-rounded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayes moved into the starting lineup when forward Emanuel Prospere II was hurt, costing the Tritons some of their rebounding and defensive capabilities. Mayes filled those roles while expanding his impact on offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cHudson arrived here as a strong defender,\u201d Allard said. \u201cThe one thing he hadn\u2019t done a lot of in high school was being the hands-on-ball player. Being the primary playmaker is where his future is. He can do so many things with the ball. He\u2019s already an attacking, ball-to-the-rim player.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe adjustment he had to make in college was getting repetitions with the ball in his hands as a guard. He\u2019s gotten better through the season. Defensively, we\u2019ve improved as a team and Hudson, a natural defender, is a big part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HudsonHudson Mayes rises to shoot during UC San Diego\u2019s win over UC Riverside on Saturday at LionTree Arena. (Josh Chew, UC San Diego athletics)<\/p>\n

Said Mayes: \u201cI pride myself on playing basketball the right way. I don\u2019t think being a freshman in college has changed that approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayes admits there are things he needs to improve, notably his 3-point shooting. But he says the step up to the college game \u201cwasn\u2019t a shock for me, even though the speed and atmosphere were different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more repetitions I get,\u201d he said, \u201cthe better it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

UC San Diego (18-9, 8-7) vs. UC Irvine (18-9, 11-4)<\/p>\n

When: 7 p.m. Saturday<\/p>\n

Where: Bren Events Center, Irvine<\/p>\n

TV: Spectrum SportsNet<\/p>\n

Radio: 97.3-FM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hudson Mayes was always going to be a starter for UC San Diego\u2019s basketball team. The only question,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[87772,74,76,75,87771],"class_list":["post-186359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-hudson-mayes","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-uc-san-diego-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}