Chemistry majors: 'The Dres' tasked with leading Gophers' basketball

These days, where there is one Dre, the other likely isn't too far behind.

Andre Hollins and DeAndre Mathieu — "Big Dre" and "Little Dre" as affectionately dubbed by fans — are pretty much inseparable, by design.

On the court, the Gophers senior guards are often side by side, just as they are seen on the cover of this year's media guide. At practice, the shooting guard, Hollins, and the point guard, Mathieu, go hand-in-hand or head-to-head. They share meals and rides around campus.

They talk about their girlfriends; Hollins is dating fellow Gophers basketball star Rachel Banham, and Mathieu's girlfriend, Charisma Payne, lives with him in Dinkytown with their 5-month-old baby, Elijah. They sit next to each other in study hall. They take the same biology class. They even share the same home state — both are from Tennessee.

"We're like brothers — we see each other every day," the 5-9 Mathieu said, feigning exhaustion. "We do everything together. I'm getting tired of him."

So far this season, there is a basketball payoff to their friendship. Despite the preseason hype about a talented four-player incoming class, through the first month of the season it has been clear: This team still belongs to "the Dres."

They form a stifling front line of aggressors at the top of coach Richard Pitino's press, and they push the offense as ballhandlers capable of lighting up the scoreboard. Hollins is the team's leading scorer at 11.7 points per game, and he's coming off a season-high 27 points at Wake Forest on Tuesday. Mathieu leads the team in assists and steals.

"They're our leaders," freshman guard Nate Mason said. "We go when they go."

Hollins was able to apply a fresh leadership lesson before the Wake Forest game, after racking up a dozen turnovers in the previous two games in New York. A leader with the same last name, the now-graduated Austin Hollins, taught him leadership doesn't come with an on-off switch.

"Leadership doesn't just come from how well you're playing," Andre Hollins said. "You have to be a leader even when you're playing very bad. That's hard to do, and that shows what type of character [Austin had], and it's taught me a valuable life lesson as well. When things go bad, you can't just stop talking and being down in the dumps — you still have a responsibility."

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Hollins and Mathieu arrived at team-leader status in different ways. Hollins, a 6-1 scorer when he came to the Gophers as Tennessee's Mr. Basketball from White Station High School in Memphis, has steadily worked to improve his defense. And after a summer of therapy, he seems to have fully recovered from a severe ankle sprain that limited him a season ago.

After a year together, Hollins and Mathieu know each other's spots and almost instinctively find each other for big plays.

The on-court harmony has translated into some fun moments for the two guards as well. A few weeks ago, when the pair took the podium for a news conference, Mathieu grabbed the microphone and announced he would now be "Big Dre," on the grounds that he's older and has a newborn — Elijah was born in July.

As the early-season grind continues with six consecutive home games this month, the two will be tasked with a challenge that doesn't come quite as naturally: standing in as mentors for a deep but raw corps of guards.

"Those two guys, they need to separate themselves [from the rest of the team] — just leadership-wise, competitiveness-wise, and everyone else will follow suit," said Pitino, who has publicly fretted that the team lacks the culture it had a year ago, when Austin Hollins' professionalism kept younger players in line.

Andre Hollins said he grasped that concept better this summer, when he chatted with NBA veteran Chris Paul at the Los Angeles Clippers point guard's camp.

Their teammates, new and old, are noticing. Mason, the Gophers' third-leading scorer, points to the presence and leadership of Hollins and Mathieu as the factor that has allowed him to be as comfortable as he is, right away. JUCO transfer Carlos Morris said Hollins acts as the vocal leader, while Mathieu is the one who "gets under guys' skin."

"I'm trying to be a pest on and off the court," Mathieu said with a snort.

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He and Hollins are hoping their leadership will help them reach lofty goals not often talked about in Dinkytown.

"We expect to make it to the Final Four and contend for the Big Ten championship," Hollins said. "I think that's how we've matured. In the past, we were settling for mediocrity. We needed to change our attitude."

Hollins has scolded Mathieu for poor body language at times. Mathieu has harped on Hollins for settling for too many jump shots, especially last year.

"I was hurt!" Hollins quipped.

"You were healthy enough to get to the basket, man," Mathieu said. "We're a lot better when he's getting to the basket. I tell him that all the time."

The leadership burden is theirs, together. They each know that their senior campaigns will be difference-makers for the team's success or failure. A strong season also could mean they will both play beyond college; poor seasons could bring the opposite.

So they work at their relationship with the team, and with each other: on the court, at their apartments — Mathieu insists Hollins will be baby-sitting for him at some point this year — and in biology class, in which Mathieu jokes that he is "just trying to keep up" with Hollins, who had a 4.8 grade-point average in high school and sees his face on scholar-oriented banners around the campus.

He laughed, and added: "I think he sees me as much as Rachel."