Mays grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and attended the Louisiana State University Laboratory School, where he began playing on the varsity basketball team when he in eighth grade. He was named first-team All-State in his sophomore and junior seasons as he helped lead the Cubs to back to back state championships. As a junior, he averaged 9.1 points, 8.1 assists and 3.2 rebounds. Mays transferred to Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada before his senior year and averaged 10.9 points, 5.3 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 2.7 steals in his only season with the Pilots. Rated a three-star recruit, Mays committed to play college basketball at Louisiana State during his sophomore year before re-opening his recruitment to other schools shortly before he transferred to Findlay. Mays eventually re-committed to LSU after considering offers from Baylor, UNLV, Oklahoma State, Memphis, California and Stanford.
College career
Mays became the Tigers' starting point guard during his freshman year, averaging 8.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals over 31 games. As a sophomore, Mays averaged 11.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists as well as 1.6 steals per game. He averaged 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds 2.1 assists and 1.9 steals per game as a junior and was named second team All-Southeastern Conference and the conference's scholar-athlete of the year. Mays scored his 1,000th career point on February 26, 2019 against Texas A&M. After the season, Mays declared for the 2019 NBA draft but ultimately opted to return to LSU. Mays was named preseason first team All-SEC and to the watchlists for the Jerry West and the Naismith Player of the Year awards. He was also named the 45th-best collegiate basketball player going into the 2019–20 season by CBS Sports. Mays scored a career-high 30 points on November 22, 2019 in an 80–78 loss to Utah State. Mays tied his career high with 30 points along with eight assists and seven rebounds on February 8, 2020 in a 91–90 overtime loss to Auburn. At the end of the regular season he was again anmed a first team Academic All-American and was selected as the Academic All-American of the Year as well as First Team All-SEC and was named the scholar-athlete of the year for a second straight season. Mays averaged 16.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
Career statistics
College
Personal life
Mays' best friend and LSU teammate, Wayde Sims, was killed by a gunshot wound to the head and neck on September 28, 2018. Mays served as the pallbearer at the funeral. Mays wore customized Nike tennis shoes during the 2019 SEC Tournament in honor of Sims.
