Champaign, ILL.– Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood announced Wednesday that Matthew Mayer (pronounced MY-er) has signed a Big Ten Tender of Financial Aid with the University of Illinois and is joining the Fighting Illini program as a transfer for his final college season.

Mayer is a 6-foot-9-inch, 225-pound guard/forward from Austin, Texas. He spent the last four years at Baylor, playing 126 career games while totaling 865 points, 400 rebounds, 112 assists and 109 steals. 

Mayer was sixth man on Baylor's 2021 NCAA Championship team and helped the Bears to back-to-back Big 12 titles and NCAA Tournament No. 1 seeds in 2021 and 2022. In all, he was part of Baylor teams that won 101 games over the last four years and surpass the 25-win marker each of the last three seasons.

"We are thrilled to add one of the most versatile players in college basketball to the Illini family in Matthew Mayer," Underwood said. "He can excel at every position on the court, on both ends of the floor. He has the shooting, playmaking ability, and skill to play literally anywhere and impact the game. Matthew has a winning pedigree, playing a major role for Baylor during a historic run of success for that program, which includes an NCAA title. His experience, leadership and winning mentality are all traits that will strengthen our current team."

Mayer started 33 games this past season, earning All-Big 12 honorable mention honors after averaging career bests of 9.8 points and 5.0 rebounds while ranking second on the team with 41 steals. He scored in double figures 17 times, led by a career-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting with four 3-pointers in the NCAA Tournament first-round win over Norfolk State (3/17/22). Mayer recorded his first 20-point performance in a victory at West Virginia (1/18/22), hitting a career best five treys. He set his career rebounding high in a home win over No. 5 Kansas (2/26/22), grabbing 12 boards.

Mayer was fifth on the team in scoring as a junior, averaging 8.1 points while shooting 49% from the field and nearly 40% from 3-point range. He netted double figures 11 times, led by a season-high 19 points in just 21 minutes in the win over No. 17 Oklahoma State (3/4/21). Mayer had several standout performances during Baylor's run to the NCAA title, collecting a season-best nine rebounds in the first-round win over Hartford (3/19/21), scoring a game-high 17 points with six boards in the second-round win over Wisconsin (3/21/21) and netting 12 points in the final-four victory over No. 6 Houston (4/3/21).

Mayer averaged 4.8 points as a sophomore, including 8.9 points per game over his last seven games before the 2020 season was cut short due to COVID-19. He scored in double figures five times, highlighted by a season-high 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the win over Kansas State (2/25/20).

Mayer averaged 4.6 points as a true freshman, scoring a season-high 18 points in a win over Nicholls (11/16/18) and posting 17 points in his Big 12 debut at TCU (1/5/19).  

Mayer was a four-star, top-100 recruit in the class of 2018. He attended Austin's Westlake High School, helping the Chaparrals to a 36-4 record and Class 6A state semifinal appearance as a senior.