MISSOULA — Brandon Whitney is a rarity in college athletics.
A fifth-year senior, Whitney has spent his entire career at Montana, and he’s nearing some major milestones with the Grizzlies in his final run.
But it started off as unorthodox as possible, as Whitney arrived at UM in the COVID-19-affected season of 2020-2021, and as a true freshman was thrown into the fire immediately.
“A little bit of homesick with the whole COVID thing, just because you kind of had to isolate yourself at times with COVID and everything," Whitney said. "But I mean, the coaches were supportive with everything during that time and really helped me get over that hump of tackling all those challenges and stuff.”
Hailing from Mission Hills, California, moving to a new state amid a pandemic to play NCAA Division I basketball was daunting to say the least.
“It was really crazy. With like playing with no fans, you really had to bring like your own energy," Whitney said. "And like me, transitioning from high school to college, obviously the intensity is different. But I think my high school prepared me very well for like the defensive concepts and the competition that I played against.”
But the Grizzly point guard took his opportunity in stride, and fast forward to today he is making history.
Currently Whitney is tied as one of the NCAA’s leaders in starts at the same school with 137 — as it happens, with Montana State's Tyler Patterson — as the coaching staff had faith in him early and have given him the keys to the program ever since.
“It was really cool that they had faith in me," Whitney said. "Obviously we had conversations before that talking about you have to compete for that position. So in my head I just competed and they trusted me in that role.”
Whitney is beginning to enter historic territory at Montana.
He’s currently tied for fourth in program history in career assists with 407, just 28 behind tying head coach Travis DeCuire.
He’s 12th in career scoring with 1,464 and he trails Will Cherry by 20 points for 11th, has played in more minutes than any other player in program history with 4,317, and at 143 career games, is 12 games away from tying the all-time games played mark as well which was set by teammate Josh Vazquez last year.
“He's always been one to lead by example in terms of being coachable and prepared to compete everyday regardless to whether what type of practices it is coming off a win, coming off a loss, long film sessions, things like that," DeCuire said. "He's prepared to grow and I think that when you have a young man like that that shows up every day and has been here he helps set the tone for all the new faces.”
He’s a Grizzly through and through, and now Whitney is looking to get Montana a Big Sky title again as he wraps up his college career.
“Coaches, teammates and just the community have meant a lot," Whitney said. "I could just be walking in a grocery store or something and they'll ask me about the game or like, a game. And just stuff like that. They're very supportive and I really like that about Montana.”
