Mathew Hicks (born c. 1955, sometimes Skip Hicks in his youth) is an American former professional basketball player. He played part of the 1973–74 NCAA Division I men's basketball season for the DePaul Blue Demons men's basketball before being discovered to be academically ineligible. He immediately transferred from DePaul University to Northern Illinois University to join Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball. At Northern Illinois, he was a two-time All-Mid-American Conference first-team selection and 1977 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year. He had played for West Aurora High School in Aurora, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) before college. High school Hicks barely made his school's 8th grade "B" basketball team. When he was a high school junior, he only scored 72 points for the varsity team. As a senior, in 1973 he tallied 718 points. In 2007, the Chicago Sun-Times has dubbed the 1973 game between West Aurora and East Aurora High School, as the best athletic contest in school history. Although Hicks contributed 20 points, the final margin in the 50–48 contest was a tipin by teammate Craig Hardy. In an early round Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Class AA playoff game, Hicks had a storied face off against Ernie Kent of Rockford West High School, in which he outscored the foul-plagued Kent 29–17 as part of a 60–52 victory. In the 1973 IHSA Class AA state championship tournament, Hicks (who went by the nickname Skip at that time), went 5–16 (3–12 in the second half) in scoring 13 points in the semifinal 39–33 upset loss to New Trier High School. Hicks rebounded in the consolation game with 30 points to defeat Lockport Central High School 67–45 for third place, the highest finish for West Aurora since the 2nd place 1959 team. Hicks finished with a tournament high 87-point four-game total. He made the All-Tournament team along with future NBA All-Star Ricky Green, Alvin Green, future MLB Rookie of the Year John Castino, and Bob Bone. DePaul As a freshman, Hicks started some early-season games. Described as a "great leaper" with an wingspan, Hicks' first start was on December 8, 1973, when DePaul visited Northwestern at McGaw Hall. Hicks averaged 11.8 points and 8.9 rebounds in DePaul's first 10 games. Hick's high school grades were below the 2.0 G.P.A. meaning that he should have been ineligible to play as a freshman, but he was on the roster due to an