Former UND forward B.J. Omot announces commitment to Cal Berkeley
Apr. 15—GRAND FORKS — Former UND men's basketball forward B.J. Omot has a new home.
Omot will transfer to the University of California Berkeley, he announced on social media Monday.
The Golden Bears will play their first season in the ACC this winter after leaving the Pac-12.
Cal finished this season 13-19 overall and 9-11 in the Pac-12.
Omot will play under Mark Madsen, who took over the program last March. Madsen was an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2013-2019 before becoming the coach at Utah Valley.
The 6-foot-8 rising junior averaged 16.7 points per game and 4.2 rebounds this season. He also totaled 29 blocks and 24 steals in his 32 starts this year.
Omot was named to the Summit League First Team this season.
Omot, a native of Mankato, Minn., started every game for the Fighting Hawks in his two-year career. He averaged 35.2 minutes per game for the Hawks this season.
Omot was the first Fighting Hawk to enter the transfer portal. Guards Tyree Ihenacho, Elijah Brooks and Daniel Hong also entered the portal after it opened March 18.
UND has brought in two transfers — Dariyus Woodson from Tyler Junior College
and
Great Plains Athletic Conference Player of the Year Reggie Thomas — this offseason. Woodson said he plans to fill the hole left by Omot in the lineup this season.
The Fighting Hawks will return Treysen Eaglestaff, Amar Kuljuhovic and Eli King from its core rotation this season.
Omot helped UND to its best finish — and its first winning season — under coach Paul Sather this season, ending the year 18-14 overall and 10-6 in Summit League play.
The Hawks entered the conference tournament with a No. 3 seed, its first Top 5 seeding since 2021. But UND was upset by No. 6 Omaha in the final seconds after leading the quarterfinal matchup by 10 points with five minutes to play.
Omot was held to 14 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
"I'm just really proud of my boys," Omot said after the loss. "Looking back to last year, we just improved so much. This is such a different team than last year."
