Greyson Uelmen goes from walk-on to UND's leading scorer as a redshirt freshman

Dec. 16—GRAND FORKS — UND head coach Paul Sather never promised Greyson Uelmen a scholarship during the recruiting process.

The 6-foot-2 guard from Excelsior, Minn., committed as a preferred walk-on and redshirted in the 2024-25 season.

Shortly after the Fighting Hawks' loss to two-seeded St. Thomas in the Summit League Tournament in March, Uelmen attended an offseason meeting with the coaching staff.

Uelmen was told he'd have the opportunity to become a key contributor in the coming season.

He was also informed that he was officially on scholarship.

"It was awesome," Uelmen said. "It was definitely a great moment. I was very happy, and I remember thanking the coaches and telling them that I won't let them down and it'll pay off for sure."

Thirteen games into his redshirt freshman season, Uelmen has taken that opportunity and run with it.

"There was never anything promised to him," Sather said. "I think sometimes you entice a kid by saying, 'Walk on for a year, we'll scholarship you.' That was never promised. It said a lot about him and his belief in himself. He's just one of those kids that enjoys competition, kind of revels in it, believes in himself, has confidence."

Uelmen leads UND in scoring, averaging 13.2 points per game. He's been unfraid to drive to the net and fight through contact, leading the team with 66 free-throw attempts.

Uelmen is shooting 50.5% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc.

He's made 12 starts, primarily running the point, and averages 25.2 minutes per game.

Uelmen scored a season-high 24 points against Cal State Northridge on Nov. 9, and he's reached double-digit point totals in all but three games so far.

"He just comes to work every day," Sather said. "Yeah, we want him to be louder and have a bigger voice and all those things, and I just think in time some of that stuff will come. But his compete, his mentality and what he brings, it's an everyday deal, and that means a lot to us.

"He can handle coaching, he can handle criticism, he can handle positive things being said, he kind of treats them all the same. He learns and continues to move on and compete, it doesn't really change his attitude toward stuff."

An outsider might be surprised by a walk-on, redshirt freshman's immediate production. But it's the fruits of Uelmen's labor during his redshirt season, and what the coaching staff saw from him on the scout team.

"It doesn't surprise us," Sather said. "Like when people ask, 'Well, does he surprise you?' Well, not really. We knew when we got him, we liked him. We knew once we started coaching him as a redshirt, we loved what we were seeing from him. He's competitive, he likes to fight, he likes to be aggressive."

Much of Uelmen's development last season came while playing against the Hawks' talented backcourt on the scout team.

Treysen Eaglestaff, a 6-foot-6 guard who's averaging 8.2 points per game with West Virginia this season, was a clear standout.

Mier Panoam, a 6-foot-2 guard who transferred to Xavier in the offseason, was Uelmen's primary matchup.

"That helped me a lot," Uelmen said. "I got a ton of reps last year going against very good guards who were on the team. So that kind of got me ready, and then I just stayed in the gym a lot and worked a lot, so I was ready for this year. ... I knew I was going to be able to play to some extent, but I just kept pushing myself.

"I wasn't sure if I was gonna be the starting point guard, the backup point guard, if I was going to have to work my way up. So I just didn't really get satisfied and was always trying to work hard and work for my spot. Being a walk-on, your spot is really not there at all. So you've definitely got to work for it."

After Panoam and Eaglestaff entered the transfer portal, Sather was confident that Uelmen was prepared to leap into a prominent role after his impressive reps on the scout team.

"He did a lot of good things against Mier," Sather said. "Just the size and athleticism that Mier brings, he really competed well against him. So when the portal happens and we're looking at who we're going to have back, we really felt like, yeah, we might go get a transfer, and we ended up bringing in Anthony Smith III (in the Class of 2025), but we just felt like he's a guy that has a really good chance to help us this year. That's why we put him on scholarship, and that's why we were excited to say what we did to him in postseason meetings, just because we believed in him and what he has shown us."

As Uelmen's first real collegiate season continues, he's hoping to improve his 3-point shooting to round out his offensive toolkit.

Sather is eyeing improved distribution, a typical focus of development for a young collegiate point guard.

Uelmen's assist-to-turnover ratio sits at 29-35.

"There's plenty for him to continue to grow and work on," Sather said. "But the mentality he brings, the feel he has for how to play, especially as he's using the ball screen and getting downhill, I think he's done a great job with that.

"Now it's learning how to continue to make passes and hit the open guys around as defenses change and give him different looks. As teams give you different looks, you've got to change your reads and have different looks that you're giving a defense. I just think those things are improving and (will) continue to improve."