Get to Know Your Lobos: Anthony Mathis

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Ever wish you could sit down with a Lobo men’s basketball coach or player, learn what makes him tick, what his favorite food is or if he has a secret hidden talent? Well here’s your chance! The UNM Athletic Department is rolling out a new men’s basketball series, Get to Know Your Lobos, where we ask your favorite Lobos questions just like that – and more!

GoLobos.com will be rolling through the men’s basketball roster throughout the off season, asking the really tough questions to your Lobos. Fans – feel free to chime in as well! Fans with questions can direct message @UNMLoboMBB on Twitter with questions for future player or coach interviews.

Our second installment of this special series is with senior Anthony Mathis. Mathis talks about his former love of skateboarding, growing up in Portland, Oregon, loving sushi and more.

Get to Know Your Lobos Series List:
DANE KUIPER
ANTHONY MATHIS

Get to Know Your Lobos: Anthony Mathis

QUESTION: Where are you from?
ANSWER: Portland, Oregon.

QUESTION: Tell us about Portland, Oregon.
ANSWER: It’s super green, opposite of New Mexico. There’s a lot of forest in Portland and a lot of hippies in downtown Portland.

QUESTION: What is your favorite part about Portland, Oregon?
ANSWER: I really like the rivers and I like being on the water, I like innertubing a lot which is something I have never done here so it’s nice to do that back home. Just being on the water is fun, the Willamette river is amazing. 

QUESTION: What is your favorite food?
ANSWER: I like sushi a lot. Tempura crunch would probably be my favorite.

QUESTION: What is your favorite color?
ANSWER: My favorite color is gold. 

QUESTION: What is your major?
ANSWER: My major is liberal arts with a focus in criminology and psychology.

QUESTION: What do you want to be when you “grow up?”
ANSWER: After my basketball career is over I want to do something like criminal investigation – something like that. I think it would be really cool to see what goes on behind the scenes and try to figure out crimes.

QUESTION: Tell us about your family.
ANSWER: I have one younger brother and one younger sister. My mom raised us as a single mother and when I was in about seventh grade, they moved to Wyoming, so I lived with my basketball coach through high school. Just because if I had moved to Wyoming, the recruiting process would have been really tough. So I consider my basketball coach also my family. I grew up with a kid named Payton Pritchard who plays at Oregon and Lexie Pritchard who plays at Santa Clara and Terry and Melissa are their parents, they basically raised me as well. 

QUESTION: Tell us about your other siblings.
ANSWER: My younger brother, Andrew, is 17 and my sister Hannah is 14. They go to school right now in high school and middle school in Wyoming.

QUESTION: What was your favorite birthday or Christmas gift?
ANSWER: I remember for Christmas I got the first Halo – I love to play video games for those who don’t know. I got Halo 1 and I started crying and gave my mom a huge hug – just started bawling.

QUESTION: What makes you tick?
ANSWER: I really like when people don’t think I can do something. Nobody thought I would play Division I basketball, so I just really like proving people wrong. It’s an accomplishment – overcoming the odds is just something I really enjoy doing.

QUESTION: Have you had a favorite class at UNM?
ANSWER: I really liked Deviance. Learning about crimes and laws, the people who commit crimes and what exactly is deviant. Deviance is the things that are against social norms, so I like things like that.

QUESTION: Pens or pencils?
ANSWER: I would have to say pencils. I make a lot of mistakes and I’m a neat freak so I like my handwriting to be super nice.

QUESTION: Red or green chile?
ANSWER: I like red.

QUESTION: What’s your favorite part about New Mexico?
ANSWER: My favorite thing about New Mexico, aside from The Pit, is the people. The people are so friendly here, they just love Lobo Basketball and they’re just so warm. Having people celebrate the program you play for is great – it’s super amazing here. Overall, I love the culture and community feeling here.

QUESTION: What’s your favorite thing to do outside of playing basketball?
ANSWER: I really like to play Fortnite and I really like watching movies.

QUESTION: What’s your favorite movie?
ANSWER: Lone Survivor

QUESTION: What is something most people may not know about you?
ANSWER: Something people may not know about me is before I started taking basketball seriously, which was in like seventh grade, I was trying to be sponsored in skateboarding. I went through the whole process of making a skate video, sent it into the sponsor and everything – taking it super seriously. Then I was skateboarding in downtown Portland, doing these tricks on stairs and I actually sprained my ankle and missed a huge basketball tournament in Houston. That’s when my coach was like ‘Yea, you’re done with skateboarding.’ So that’s when I cut it off.

QUESTION: Is your family ever able to make it out to Lobo games?
ANSWER: Yes! They do. They come when we play Wyoming and they come to Vegas.

QUESTION: Do you have any special talents?
ANSWER: I can juggle. My favorite thing to juggle is oranges.
 
Season tickets for the 2018-19 Lobo Men’s Basketball season are now on sale. To purchase your tickets, go to UNMTickets.com, for more information about season tickets, pricing, location and more, CLICK HERE.