Over the course of this season the men's basketball team has shown drastic improvement from the subpar season they had last year. One of the reasons for the newfound success has to do with the play that they have received from forward Brandon Myer.

Myer grew up in Superior, Wisconsin, and played every type of sport growing up. He participated in basketball, football, golf, and track in high school.

It wasn’t until he grew six inches in the summer after his sophomore year that he decided to stick with basketball.

“I was expected to be short my whole life because my dad is 5 foot 10 inches and my mom is 5 foot 6 inches, so after I grew to be 6 foot 6 inches I was like I should probably just stick to basketball,” said Myer.

Growing up just across the lake, Myer said being so close to home was the “icing on the cake” and one of the reasons that he chose UMD.

The junior is currently having a the best season of his collegiate career. Myer is averaging 21.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game to go along with a stellar 40% 3-point percentage.

Myer said, “Basketball is year round for me, so I just try to put in as much time in the off season that I do in season.”

Everyone has high praise for Myer, including head coach Justin Wieck who has had the team playing at a high level in just his first year as head coach.

“We definitely rely on him, we run a ton of our offensive stuff through him,” Wieck said. “He’s having a heck of a year for sure.”

Myer said his number one goal this season is to win.  That being said, he also wants to coming to be an All-American, first team all conference and to be a good team leader.

As for the team as whole, Myer said, “As long as we go out and play tough every night we can beat any team. The sky's the limit for us.”