Early life and high school career
Mashack was born on November 10, 2002, in Riverside, California. [1] His father, Elton, was a first-team All-West Coast Conference (WCC) performer in basketball for the Loyola Marymount Lions, while his mother, Meika, competed in track and field for the UNLV Rebels. [2] At age four, he battled Guillain–Barré syndrome, which he recovered from but required years of physical therapy. [2] He attended Etiwanda High School in Rancho Cucamonga and was a top basketball player there, excelling on defense. [3] He helped Etiwanda to the CIF Southern California Regional final as a junior and as a senior helped them to the title while being named the Cal-Hi Sports State Senior Player of the Year, the Baseline League Player of the Year and to the Los Angeles Times All-Star team. [1] Ranked a four-star shooting guard prospect and a top-80 recruit nationally, he committed to playing college basketball for Tennessee. [1]
College career
As a freshman for the Volunteers in 2021–22, Mashack appeared in 27 games while playing 4.6 minutes per game. [4] He was part of an NCAA Tournament team as a freshman. [1] The following year, he started 13 of 36 games and averaged 4.7 points. [5] He also started all three of Tennessee's NCAA Tournament games, averaging 6.7 points in those games. [1] As a junior in 2023–24, Mashack averaged 4.5 points and 3.1 rebounds while starting eight games and contributing to the team's Southeastern Conference (SEC) regular season championship. [5] In his last year, he started all 38 games and helped Tennessee reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, averaging six points and 4.2 rebounds. [6] During his collegiate career, he won 109 games for the Volunteers, including nine in the NCAA Tournament, a team-record. [5]
Although Mashack did not have significant scoring at Tennessee, he was considered one of the top defensive players in the nation. [7] The Knoxville News Sentinel described him as a "master at knowing an opponent's strengths and weaknesses offensively" and he was often tasked with guarding opponents' best players. [3] [8] In his last year, he ranked fourth nationally in Defensive Box Plus-Minus and was selected to the SEC All-Defensive team, as well as named a finalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award. [5] [7] In March 2025, he received Tennessee's Torchbearer award, the highest honor for school students. [5]
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