‘He can just make plays happen’ — New Dayton recruit made most of post-graduate year

“He was a really big piece for my last team that I had at Hargrave,” said Messinger, who’s now an assistant coach at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). “We always really valued guys that could play fast. We wanted guys that could thrive in the open court, guys that defend, guys that disrupt the other team. De’Shayne did that really well. He’s so long. He’s so athletic. He has great instincts. He can just make plays happen.”

Even though Montgomery didn’t have as much experience as the players around him, Messinger said, “Every single game, you’d watch him, and there would be two or three plays where it was like, ‘Man, this is like the highest-level kid you could possibly have.‘”

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Two things helped Montgomery turn into the type of player who would win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year award a season later at Mount St. Mary’s.

“He really started to hit the weight room hard,” Messinger said, “and his body started to develop, and that’s important. But then it was just the daily competition. Nothing against his high school, but we were the No. 1-ranked post-grad team in the country, and we ended up having seven or eight Division I players.

“Every game he was going up against multiple college players. He basically had a low-major college year under his belt without having it count against his eligibility. He matured a lot on and off the court. That kind of allowed him to have that success right off the bat at Mount St. Mary’s.”

High-major schools recruited Montgomery early, but Messinger said it’s harder and harder for high school players to earn offers at that level with so many programs focusing on recruiting in the transfer portal. That’s how Montgomery ended up at Mount St. Mary’s, which finished 13-19 in his one season at the school.

As a freshman, Montgomery averaged 13.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He shot 41.2% (28 of 68) from 3-point range and 57.7% (128 of 222) from 2-point range. He scored 20 or more points in six of the last seven games. He scored a career-high 27 points against Siena.

Six days after the final game of his freshman season, Montgomery entered the transfer portal on the first day the portal was open: March 18, 2024. He picked Georgia over a final group that also included Southern California, Mississippi and Mississippi State.

Montgomery was one of nine newcomers, including five transfers, on Georgia’s 2024-25 roster. He was ruled academically ineligible in September for the first nine games because he didn’t have enough transferable credits from Mount St. Mary’s. He averaged 16 points in his first three games but hit double figures only once more and lost his spot in the rotation late in the season.

“He was playing a fair amount early on,” Messinger said, “and down the stretch, he faded a little bit. To continue to mature and evolve his game, to be able to play at the highest possible level consistently, it can’t be flashes. It’s got to be consistent production. At that level, when you’re still relatively new to the game, you don’t have the ability to play through any of those mistakes. That’s kind of what we saw.”

Messinger is familiar with the Atlantic 10 Conference, having grown up 10 minutes from the Massachusetts campus in Amherst. He sees Montgomery as a good fit for the A-10 and Dayton. He said when it all fully clicks for Montgomery and he develops consistency, he has pro potential.

“We’re going to be talking about De’Shayne Montgomery on draft boards,” he said. “I think (Dayton) is a perfect spot for him to get that ball rolling.”

Off the court, Montgomery is a guy other players gravitate toward, Messinger said.

“He’s kind of quiet at first,” Messinger said. “Then he comes out of his shell, and you really get know him. Guys at Hargrave all loved him. They stay in contact with him. He made really close friends there.”