Senior Leon Ayers III is a guard for the BGSU men’s basketball team. The leading scorer for BGSU, Ayers talks about his career and potential future playing basketball.

Q: What made you want to play basketball? 

A: I started off playing young. I was in third grade, but I started off playing football and soccer. It was between soccer and basketball, and I had to decide. I picked basketball, and ever since then, I have been focusing on that.  

Q: What basketball player inspires your game?  

A: I try to stimulate my game from many guys, but as a mindset type, I would say Damion Lillard. He is more of where I came from. He is under-looked and tries to prove everyone wrong, but he handles and carries himself with very calm composure and state.  

Q: You played basketball at two different universities before coming to BGSU. What was that like, and why did you transfer to BGSU?  

A: I transferred here because of the style of play, the city and the coaching staff. I mean, those two schools were great programs for sure, and I do not want to knock those guys, those programs, and the players on the team, but it was not a fit for me. The experience was a big transition for me going to my first school, Mercer, because I was at a junior college for two years, so I was home, and then I went all the way to Georgia, and I had to experience living on my own and finding a new group of friends. Outside of basketball, life was more of an adjustment for me.  

Q: Do you think scoring 1,000+ points this season was your biggest accomplishment so far as a basketball player?  

A: Definitely. It was a big accomplishment for sure. I cannot explain it. It is hard to think about that as I did that. But I mean, I am grateful and blessed to be in the situation to be able to do that.  

Q: The season is wrapped up, so what would you say was your favorite moment on the team this season?  

A: There are so many good ones. My favorite moment, I do not know, but overall, I have just appreciated the journey that I have been on here. I met new people every day and experienced them, but the coaching staff here are great guys to be around every day. I mean, things have not gone how we wanted them to go, but the coaching staff is still the same guys when they recruited me in the summer.  

Q: You are a senior this year, so do you plan to declare for the NBA Draft? 

A: That is something that I have in mind, but I am thinking of playing overseas after this year. I want to play in the Europe area.