Earlier this week Gophers men’s basketball announced the addition of BJ Omot (Mankato East HS alum) to the program. Omot joins new head coach Niko Medved and company after spending last season at California and his sophomore and freshman seasons at North Dakota.

Omot is a 6-foot-8 forward, who told us he’s comfortable guarding four positions. He only played four games for the Bears before being sidelined for the season due to a wrist injury. But he showed why he’s a high-major player in that small amount of time. He had 15 points, six rebounds and two steals vs. Vanderbilt.

He told us that his wrist is now back to 100 percent.

While at North Dakota, Omot was the team’s top scorer both seasons.

Our Darren ‘Doogie’ Wolfson caught up with Omot, via Zoom. Omot is back in Berkeley finishing classes before he comes home in May and joins the Gophers for summer workouts in June.

***Click the video box above to watch our conversation with Omot***

“We’re thrilled to add BJ to our Gopher program,” Medved said in a statement. “BJ is athletic with size, length and skill. Along with his offensive talent as a wing, he is a great perimeter defender. I look forward to having him represent his home state and the Maroon and Gold.”

As a high school standout with Mankato East, Omot scored 1,118 points to go along with 398 rebounds. He was a two-time all-state and all-conference selection in his junior and senior seasons.