UND men’s basketball adds scoring punch with Central Washington’s Garrett Anderson

GRAND FORKS — The UND men’s basketball program added some scoring and length with perhaps the team’s final addition to next season’s roster.

Central Washington 6-foot-6 wing Garrett Anderson, who averaged more than 14.0 points per game last season while shooting 49 percent from the field and 41 percent from 3-point range, announced his commitment to play for the Fighting Hawks earlier this week.

Anderson, a unanimous all-Great Northwest Athletic Conference first team pick, spent his first two seasons of college basketball playing for Tim Miles at San Jose State.

Miles, a former Mayville State and North Dakota State head coach, provided a connection between Anderson and the Fighting Hawks.

Miles was an assistant coach at Northern State when the Wolves recruited current UND head coach Paul Sather out of high school.

“Garrett is long, athletic wing that can really shoot the ball,” Sather said. “He has an experienced background playing in the Mountain West Conference, and more recently, starring at Central Washington. Garrett is a great fit for UND and fills a big need for our team. He’s a proven winner and that has an opportunity to make an immediate impact.”

At NCAA Division II CWU, Anderson averaged 14.3 points per game with eight 20-point games and efforts of 39 points (vs. Jessup) and 34 points (Western Oregon). He was 178-for-362 from the field for 49.2 percent. He was 54-for-131 for 41.2 percent from 3-point range.

Anderson also averaged 5.3 rebounds per game at CWU.

“We had a good year,” Anderson said. “We won the regular season in the GNAC for the first time in a long time. Unfortunately, I rolled my ankle the day before the conference tournament, and we lost in the championship.”

Anderson spent two seasons at San Jose State, playing in 54 games at just more than 10 minutes per game. He shot 32.6 percent from the field.

“I wanted to go back up to the (Division I) atmosphere,” Anderson said. “The competition was good here, and I played in the Mountain West. I wanted to get back to the atmosphere and arenas and travel.”

Anderson was drawn to UND because the Fighting Hawks made him feel like a priority, he said.

“It was all the coaches recruiting me hard,” Anderson said. “I had multiple assistants hitting me up. Usually in recruiting, you talk to one or two guys, then maybe talk to the head coach later on. (With UND), every assistant talked to me and Sather called me the day after. We had a good conversation. He wasn’t hard to talk to about life and everything.

“I came on my visit and Sather was driving me around the whole time. I’ve been on a few visits, and you don’t see the head coach driving around. It made me feel wanted and I liked to hear they were looking for immediate impact with me.”

Anderson, a native of Phoenix, was the Arizona 6A Player of the Year out of high school.

“Quick first step,” Anderson said of his playing style. “Kind of a fast, twitch athlete. I can play above the rim and shoot it from deep.”

UND will need to replace plenty of productivity from last season with six of the top seven scorers no longer with the team.

Eli King, UND’s fourth-leading scorer last season, is the top returning scorer at 8.3 points per game.

Anderson joins six other first-year players expected to play next season.

UND will bring in Devils Lake native Wylee Delorme from the University of Mary and post Josh Jones of Oral Roberts. In addition, a true freshman class includes twins Marley and Micah Curtis of St. Louis Park, Kindred’s Karson Ouse and Hopkins’ Anthony Smith III.

“I’m excited to get out there,” Anderson said. “School here finishes late … June 14. I’m driving straight from Washington to North Dakota. I’m ready to get in the gym and get to work. I’m pumped for this year.”