From the Portal to the Desert: Hudson Mayes Spurns Power Five Offers to Build Something at New Mexico

Hudson Mayes lost track of time. That tends to happen when hundreds of phone calls and text messages flood your phone daily from coaches across the country trying to convince you to join their program. After officially entering the NCAA transfer portal, the UC-San Diego combo guard was drowning in recruitment pitches from nearly every major program in America. On Tuesday, he finally surfaced with a decision.

Mayes, an All-Big West Conference honorable mention selection, signed with New Mexico and head coach Eric Olen, passing on significant six-figure offers from Power Five programs in favor of what he called a basketball decision. The 6-foot-5, 200-pound rising sophomore out of San Diego finished his freshman season as UCSDs second-leading scorer at 11.1 points per game and led the team in rebounds at 5.7 per contest.

I kept money out of my decision and made a basketball decision, Mayes told USA TODAY Sports. We were prepared for that, for the money, but we knew this was going to be a decision that we would have to make based on relationships and what is best basketball-wise and what is the best path.

The pull of New Mexico was rooted in familiarity. Olen and several members of his coaching staff had previously recruited Mayes during their tenure at San Diego before Olen took the New Mexico job. That existing relationship gave the Lobos an edge even as major programs circled with NIL-loaded pitches.

Mayes also had NBA-certified agent KJ Smith of Range Sports in his corner, who warned him about the chaos that comes with entering the portal. My agent told me once you do enter, you are going to get hundreds of texts and calls, Mayes said. I tried not to let myself get too stressful with it.

The son of former Notre Dame All-America wideout and Green Bay Packers Super Bowl champion Derrick Mayes, and grandson of Naismith Hall of Famer Roger Brown, Hudson Mayes started 12 of San Diegos final 13 games and scored in double figures in each of his last 10 contests. He helped the Tritons close the season winning eight of their final 11 games.

Olen, coming off a debut season in Albuquerque that saw the Lobos win 26 games and reach the NIT semifinals, is counting on Mayes to immediately compete for a starting role. New Mexico is rich with tradition and we want to continue that here, Olen said. It is a great place to play college basketball, up there with the best home environments anywhere in the country and we believe in what this place can be. We think New Mexico basketball is a national brand, we want to be relevant on that stage and Hudson helps us do that.

With three years of eligibility remaining, Mayes has already set his sights high. I turned down several offers from teams, at-large NCAA tournament teams that I kind of just decided to go with my gut, he said. I believe next year New Mexico can be an NCAA Tournament team.

The portal decision period continues to reshape college basketball each offseason, with players leveraging their mobility to find both better opportunities and, in some cases, more money. For Mayes, the journey from San Diego to the high desert of New Mexico is about more than just a new conference. It is about proving that the right fit matters more than the biggest offer.