it took Xavier Rathan-Mayes less than five minutes to become a household name. It wasn’t the Florida State guard’s first time in the public eye—and it won’t be his last.
“When that happened it almost felt like a dream. I don’t think I slept that night, it just kept replaying in my mind.”
A little more than three hours before the most famous performance of his life, Xavier Rathan-Mayes had that feeling.
It had crept up a couple of times already during the 20-year-old’s first year of eligibility at Florida State. There was the game against Citadel, scoring 26 points on 8-of-9 shooting (a perfect 5-of-5 from deep) in just his second start. And, of course, the 35-point outing on the road against the storied North Carolina Tar Heels, which made him one of just five ACC freshmen to ever reach that mark.
By the time this night wraps up he’ll be the only one to do it twice.
The last year and a half has been tough treading for the six-foot-four guard from Scarborough, Ont. Last season, while his close friends—“brothers,” he’ll amend—and former teammates Tyler Ennis and Andrew Wiggins excelled as one-and-done freshmen, Rathan-Mayes was forced to the sidelines, ruled academically ineligible by the NCAA. But after a year of rediscovery, this season he’s not wasting any opportunities.
Today, ahead of a much-anticipated conference game against the in-state rival Miami Hurricanes, that thought continues to drive him.
The Seminoles arrived in Miami early and went through their usual pre-game routine, sitting down for a meal as a team before heading to the arena to get a feel for the gym. Wrapping up shootaround with the same drill as always they gathered behind the free-throw line. Rathan-Mayes’s turn came and he stepped up to the line and drained his first shot. When the drill cycled back to him, he promptly drained another. And then another, swish after swish echoing through the hollow arena. Like Wilt Chamberlain hitting every ‘free play’ on the pinball machine before his 100-point game nearly 53 years to the day, Rathan-Mayes couldn’t miss if he tried.
An hour before tip-off, he phoned his mom, Marilyn, who was back home in Scarborough where she lives with “X’s” two younger brothers.
“Mom, I’m feeling something special tonight,” he told her. “I think it’s going to be one of those nights.”
“Like North Carolina?” she asked, having heard it before.
“No,” he answered, “Even better.”
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