Maxwell Abmas ( ; born April 2, 2001) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player for the Texas Longhorns of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. He previously played for four seasons at Oral Roberts.

High school career

Abmas attended

Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas (commonly referred to as Jesuit Dallas or Dallas Jesuit, and formerly known as Jesuit High School) is a private, college-preparatory school for young men under the direction of the Society of Jesus a ...

. He joined the

varsity team In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

in his sophomore season. As a senior, he averaged 19.1 points and 3.7 assists per game. He was named District 9-6A co-MVP. Abmas competed for 3-D Sports on the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

circuit. He was lightly recruited and committed to playing college basketball for Oral Roberts over offers from

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

and Marist.

College career

As a freshman at Oral Roberts, he was a regular starter and averaged 14.4 points, earning Summit League All-Newcomer Team honors. On December 8, 2020, he recorded 36 points, nine assists and six rebounds in an 83–78 loss to

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

. On February 13, 2021, Abmas scored a career-high 42 points in a 103–86 win over

South Dakota State South Dakota State University is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest and most comprehensive university and the oldest continually ...

. Two days later, he was named Lou Henson National Mid-Major Player of the Week. On February 27, Abmas scored 41 points in an 85–81 victory over

Western Illinois Forgottonia (), also spelled Forgotonia, is the name given to a 16-County (United States), county region in Western Illinois in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This geographic region forms the distinctive western bulge of Illinois (area west of ...

. At the close of the 2020–21 season, Abmas was named the Summit League Player of the Year and first-team all-conference. He helped his team win the Summit League tournament, where he was named MVP, and earn an NCAA tournament berth. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, he led 15th-seeded Oral Roberts to a 75–72 upset win over second-seeded

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

in overtime, scoring 29 points. In the second round, Abmas scored 26 points to help upset seventh-seeded

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, 81–78. In the Sweet 16, Abmas scored 25 points in a 72–70 loss to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

. With this performance, Abmas became the first player to score at least 25 points in each of the first three rounds at a single tournament since

Stephen Curry Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, ...

at the

2008 NCAA tournament The 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2007–08 basketball ...

. His play at the tournament has led many to draw comparisons between him and both Curry and

Jimmer Fredette James Taft "Jimmer" Fredette (born February 25, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player. He last played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association. Fredette was the 2011 National Player of the Year in college ...

. On May 9, 2021, he declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

while maintaining his college eligibility. He withdrew from the draft on the day of the deadline. As a junior, Abmas was named to the First Team All-Summit League.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Oral Roberts , 31 , , 31 , , 29.5 , , .411 , , .366 , , .830 , , 2.2 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 14.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Oral Roberts , 28 , , 28 , , 37.0 , , .477 , , .429 , , .890 , , 3.2 , , 3.8 , , 1.5 , , .2 , , style="background:#cfecec;" , 24.5* , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Oral Roberts , 30 , , 30 , , 36.8 , , .422 , , .389 , , .850 , , 3.4 , , 3.7 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 22.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Oral Roberts , 34 , , 34 , , 36.0 , , .436 , , .373 , , .919 , , 4.4 , , 4.0 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 21.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 123 , , 123 , , 34.8 , , .437 , , .388 , , .883 , , 3.3 , , 3.2 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 20.8

References

External links