Rising Star: Freshman Addi Mack Shines With Stellar Performances

With Maryland trailing Georgetown by double digits late in the third quarter, freshman Addi Mack took matters into her own hands and broke onto the scene. 

She led the Terps to outscore the rival Hoyas 34-9 in the fourth quarter and snag a key win. Since her career-high 23 points, she’s scored at least 10 points in every game she’s played in, catching the eyes of College Park, the Big Ten, and the NCAA women’s basketball world. 

“She’s shown it since the summer time,” Brenda Frese said. “She’s fearless. She loves to compete. Every time she’s in a big moment or a big game, she has risen to the occasion.”

One of Maryland’s most consistent scorers is a young star following the big footprints of her idol. The Minnesota native is having a stellar start to her freshman season and is thriving and jiving on and off the court. 

“It’s been a pretty seamless transition,” Mack said. “Coming here as a freshman, you don't really know what to expect or how the team is gonna bring you in, but it has been awesome. Everyone has been super intentional about making me feel included and trusting me. Being a freshman point guard, it's a pretty big role to have. Knowing that I have so many people behind me that trust me, not only with the basketball on the court, but also outside of basketball, just in life in general, is an awesome feeling.”

This weekend, the Minnesota native returns home as the Terps start their Big Ten slate against her hometown Golden Gophers. She’ll host her new team for dinner on Saturday night ahead of Maryland’s contest against Minnesota. 

“I’m so excited,” Mack said. “It's been on the calendar for a long time. It'll be super fun to play there, in front of my friends and family.”

Being home will surely bring back lots of memories for Mack, including the countless times she drove across Minneapolis to watch her idol and fellow Minnesotan, Paige Bueckers, compete in high school.

After Mack’s 23-point breakout against Georgetown, Maryland women’s basketball hunted down an interview from Mack’s seventh-grade year where she talked about wanting to become the next Bueckers and the steps she has to take to get there. 

“When I saw that they found that interview and made that little edit to it, I thought it was a crazy, full-circle moment,” Mack said. “With Paige being from Minnesota, she was such an awesome role model to look up to. I remember that interview from my seventh grade year, my first year playing varsity. I think it was her senior year of high school, and I would go to basically any game that I could when I wasn't playing. To see what she's done now for women's basketball is super inspiring.”

Hopkins High School (Bueckers’ high school) and Minnehaha Academy (Mack’s former stomping grounds) sit about 15 miles from each other, an easy enough distance for a stargazing middle schooler to travel to see her idol play. 

“I think even at that young age, having her to look up to has really allowed me to kind of be in the place where I am now, and hopefully have other girls look up to me,” Mack said. “It's kind of just a crazy, full-circle moment.”

Mack is already making a name for herself and gaining national recognition. She was named both Big Ten Freshman of the Week and USBWA Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week in mid-November. 

“I’ve been fortunate because I’ve seen a lot of Addi’s games,” Frese said after her breakout game against Georgetown. “I just know how talented and successful and just how fearless she is. I loved seeing it on this big stage. That’s why she came here and she’s going to have a lot more moments like this.”

She was in talks with Frese for three years before landing on Maryland as her landing spot. 

“I’ve never been a person that’s been about player rankings, it’s about whether they can play in our system,” Frese said. “I knew with our transition and the way she scores the basketball that she’d have a lot of success in our system.”

“I just felt like this could be my home,” Mack said. “Being here, obviously away from my real home, I think I’ve developed a home here. Our whole motto this year is family, and I definitely think that I picked the right family to be a part of here.”

But well before deciding where to take her college skills, she had to settle on what sport she wanted to pursue full-time. 

“Honestly, when I was young, I always thought competitive swimming was my main sport,” Mack said. “I thought I was going to be an Olympic swimmer. That was my goal. But as you kind of start having to pick, okay, I want to focus on this, basketball really stood out as something that I thought I could be good at and something that I find my ultimate joy in.”

She credits her stamina, conditioning, and breathing strength, in part, to her swimming roots, but knows that her basketball skills and love for the sport propelled her to where she is now. 

“If I'm bored or if I need something to do, I just would rather be playing basketball than doing anything else,” Mack said. “I just really love the game, and that's kind of how I decided to stick with it throughout high school.”

Frese has been vocal this season about working to find the rotations that work. With players cycling in and out of injury and availability, Mack has established herself as a scoring threat every time she’s on the floor. 

“I think I’ve really just played within the flow of the game,” Mack said. “Coming here, I really just wanted to be the type of person that will do whatever the team needs me to do and help put ourselves in a position to win the game. Whether that's scoring, rebounding, hitting assists, or stepping in being the point guard. Just focusing on how I can get other people involved makes it a lot easier for myself.”

The task ahead gets harder moving forward. Maryland starts Big Ten play this week and the Terps will once again compete in a premier women’s basketball conference. 

“Throughout the non conference schedule, I think our chemistry as a team has just gotten stronger and stronger,” Mack said. “Playing Kentucky in Puerto Rico was a good test for us, just to see how we compare against another really strong opponent. Obviously in the Big Ten, every single night is going to be a battle, and we're excited for it. We practiced so hard throughout the summer to put ourselves in a position to compete to be one of the best programs in the country. Going into Big Ten play, our approach doesn't change.”

Mack is locked in and ready to go. She’s living out a childhood dream, and there isn’t a team on the schedule that’s going to stop her from making her middle-school self proud as she continues to take the world by storm.