Montay Brandon

ON BRANDON: One of the most versatile players in the ACC who will look to earn his position as a starter for the Seminoles for the third consecutive season…spent his freshman season as Florida State’s primary point guard and was a standout in his second season as Florida State’s wing guard…has the ability and acumen to bring the basketball up the court and the athleticism and length to play as a rebounder and a lock down defender at the wing guard position…has proven during his first two seasons that he can play both positions and more importantly benefit the Seminoles from both positions…has played the wing position throughout his career and his development at the point guard position is an extreme an plus for both Brandon and the Seminoles during the remainder of his collegiate career…his defensive abilities have allowed him to cover C.J. Fair of Syracuse, K.J. McDaniels of Clemson and Travis McKie of Wake Forest… “That’s my job to guard one of the best players. I relish guarding the toughest players,” said Brandon during his sophomore season…began to prove his defensive ability late during his freshman season when he was assigned to guard Virginia’s Joe Harris and NC State’s Rodney Purvis and Lorenzo Brown in the final two games of the regular season…his lock down defense during those two games allowed the Seminoles to shut all three players down and win their final two games of the regular season against two postseason teams (NC State played in the NCAA Tournament and Virginia advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT)… is a very long player for his size with long arms who has the ability to cover a tremendous amount of the court with very little effort…his ability to get into passing lanes to deflect passes and earn steals on the defensive end of the court is one of his greatest assets…has been in the starting line-up in 58 of the 69 games in which he has played during the first two years of his career at Florida State…the starter at the point guard position in 23 games and the starter at the two-guard position in 35 career games…the only player to start all 36 games for the Seminoles during the 2013-14 season…he totaled one start (against Miami on Feb. 10, 2014) at the point guard position and 35 at the two guard spot during his sophomore season…his size (6-7) and diverse abilities creates match-up problems in the Seminoles favor on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court…a key to the Seminoles’ chemistry because of his desire to play wherever the Seminole coaches need him to play…his desire to be a team player was illustrated during his freshman season as he started 22 games at the point guard position, saw his playing time decrease, continued to work hard in practice and was rewarded with increased playing time late in the season…tied Florida State’s individual record for free throw shooting perfection in an ACC game as he was a perfect seven of seven from the free throw line (1.000 percent) against Maryland during his sophomore season (Feb. 8, 2014)…became just the 18th player in school history to be perfect on at least seven free throws in an ACC game…only the fifth player in school history to make a perfect seven of seven free throws on the road in an ACC game…the No. 11 ranked point guard in the nation and the No. 59 overall ranked prep player as a member of the 2012 freshman class by Rivals.com…also rated as the No. 9 ranked shooting guard prospect in the class of 2012 by ESPN.com…a four star recruit by ESPN.com…a member of the West Team in the 2012 Jordan Brand Classic All Star game that was played in Charlotte on April 14, 2012…a starter for the West Team in the regional All-Star game played at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, N.C….a double double of 12 points and 12 rebounds to go along with four assists in 32 minutes of playing time as the West team fell, 84-82…led the team in rebounds, assists and minutes played…nominated to play in the prestigious McDonald’s All-American Game in 2012…committed to Florida State during his official visit in September of 2011…

AS A SOPHOMORE (2014): Averaged a career-high 7.7 points (fifth on the team), a career-high 4.9 rebounds (second), a career-high 1.5 assists (fourth) a career-high 0.9 steals (third) while starting all 36 games for the Seminoles as a sophomore…was the only player to start all 36 games for the Seminoles and one of only 23 players in the ACC who started each of his team’s game during the 2014 season…established single season career-highs for games played (36), games started (36), minutes played (1,060), minutes played per game (29.4), field goals made (92), field goals attempted (221), 3-point field goals attempted (36), free throws made (83), free throws attempted (135), free throw percentage (.615), offensive rebounds (54), defensive rebounds (121), total rebounds (175), rebounds per game (4.9), assists (54), steals (33), points scored (276) and points scored per game (7.7 ppg)…started 35 of 36 games at the shooting guard position and one game at the point guard position…was the Seminoles starter at the point guard position against Miami in the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee (Feb. 10)…played at least 18 minutes in each game and totaled a career-high tying 37 minutes played against Minnesota in the semifinals of the NIT in a game played at Madison Square Garden (April 1)…Florida State’s second leading rebounder from the guard position with a single season career-high 175 rebounds and a career-high 4.9 rebounds per game average…led the Seminoles rebounding from the guard position an amazing 11 times including in victories over two ranked teams (No. 10 VCU and No. 20 UMass), against No. 13 Florida and in five ACC games (victories over Maryland, Miami, Pitt and Georgia Tech and against Clemson)…ranked second on the team behind only Okaro White who led the team in rebounding 18 times…first career double figure rebounding game (Nov. 21, 11 rebounds) came in Florida State’s exciting victory over VCU and his first double figure rebounding game in ACC play came in Florida State’s victory over Georgia Tech (March 2, 12 rebounds)…his 11 rebounds against VCU helped him earn the first double double of his career with 14 points and 11 rebounds in the victory over the Rams in the first round of the 2013 Puerto Rico Tip-Off…back to back games of 12 rebounds against Pitt (Feb. 23) and Georgia Tech (March 2) with his career high of 10 defensive rebounds in both games…scored his career-high of 18 points on six of eight shooting from the field and six of eight shooting from the free throw line against North Carolina (Feb. 17) at home in the Donald L. Tucker Center…scored in double figures in a career-high 11 games including in four ACC games and against Louisiana Tech in the quarterfinals of the NIT (March 26)…opened the season with a 15-point performance in the Seminoles’ season-opening victory over Jacksonville (Nov. 8)…Florida State’s second leading scorer in the Puerto-Rico Tip Off with a 12.7 points per game average…scored 14 points in Florida State’s win over No. 10 VCU (Nov. 21), totaled 14 against No. 13 Michigan (Nov. 22) and scored 10 in the Seminoles’ win over Northeastern in the third place game of the event (Nov. 24)…was the only Seminole to score in double figures in each of the Seminoles’ three games in the prestigious Puerto Rico Tip-Off…back-to-back games of 14 points in victories over Jacksonville State (Dec. 8) and Charlotte (Dec. 17)…one of four Seminoles to make at least 80 free throws and one of only four Seminoles to attempt at least 100 free throws during the 2013-14 season…his career-high of seven free throws came in the Seminoles’ victory over Jacksonville and at Maryland (Feb. 8) while his career high of nine free throws attempted came in the Seminoles’ wins over Jacksonville and No. 10 VCU…was a career best and perfect from the free throw line of seven of seven at Maryland and made six free throws against North Carolina (Feb. 17)…made four or more free throws in eight different games as he averaged a career-high 2.3 free throws made per game…averaged a career-high 3.8 free throws attempted per game…finished fourth on the team in assists with 54 and a 1.5 assists per game average…his season high of four assists came against Michigan in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and against Virginia in the ACC Tournament…at least three assists in eight different games and multiple assists in 19 of 36 games…fourth on the team in steals with 33 and a 0.9 steals per game average…his career high of three assists came against Minnesota in the NIT semifinals and in Florida State’s victory over Charleston Southern (Dec. 30)…multiple steals in eight games and tripled his steals totals as a sophomore (33) as compared to his freshman season (11)…

AS A FRESHMAN (2013): Averaged 3.9 points (10th on the team), 1.8 rebounds (tied for seventh) and 1.4 assists (fourth) while starting 22 games at the point guard position during his first season as a Seminole…played in 33 of Florida State’s 34 games and was one of only seven Seminoles who played in 33 or more games in helping lead the team to the NIT…ranked fourth on the team in minutes played with 652 and an average of 19.8 minutes played per game…only four Seminoles – including Brandon – averaged 19 minutes or more of playing time during the 2012-13 season…finished fourth on the team in total assists with 47 which included his career high of five assists against Minnesota (Nov. 27), Mercer (Dec. 2) and in the Seminoles’ ACC win at Georgia Tech (Feb. 5)…his five assists against the Yellow Jackets helped the Seminoles take the road win on Michael Snaer’s third buzzer-beating, game-winning shot of the season in Florida State’s 56-54 win…Florida State’s starter at the point guard position from Nov. 12 against Buffalo through Feb. 9 against Wake Forest – a span of 22 games…multiple assists came 10 times in his 22 games as the Seminoles’ starting point guard…inserted into the starting line-up in the second game of the 2012-13 season and the second game of his career…scored in double figures three times with his season high of 11 points coming against South Alabama (Nov. 9) in his career debut and in the Seminoles’ win over Saint Joseph’s (Nov. 17) in the championship game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in Brooklyn and 10 points coming in Florida State’s NIT game against Louisiana Tech (March 19)…a house on fire in the first four games of his first season as he scored 31 points and averaged 7.8 points scored against South Alabama and in wins over Buffalo (Nov. 12), BYU (Nov. 16) and Saint Joseph’s (Nov. 17)…averaged 5.9 points (sixth on the team) in the Seminoles’ 16 non-conference games…also scored the ball well as he averaged 5.8 points per game in the Seminoles’ five neutral site games…his ACC season high of seven points came in the Seminoles’ first of three games against North Carolina (Jan. 12) in Tallahassee…totaled eight points on three of five shooting from the field (.600 percent) in the Seminoles’ 79-76 victory over Charlotte at the Times Warner Cable Arena (Dec. 22) in Florida State’s first trip back to his home state of North Carolina…a starter against the 49ers and totaled two assists in 17 minutes of playing time…finished his first season with 11 steals and was one of nine Seminoles who earned double figures in steals during the season…his season high of two steals came in a victory over Maryland in Tallahassee (Jan. 30) and at Wake Forest (Feb. 9)…eight blocks in his freshman season including a career high three in the Seminoles’ game against Minnesota in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (Nov. 27)…averaged 6.6 points in a string of five consecutive games against Louisiana Monroe (Dec. 17, seven points), Charlotte (Dec. 22, eight points), Tulsa in the Orange Bowl Classic (Dec. 29, six points), at Auburn (Jan. 2, six points) and in his first career ACC game at Clemson (Jan. 5, six points)…scored well in the final four games of the season as he averaged 6.3 points against NC State (March 9, four points), Clemson in the ACC Tournament (March 14, eight points), North Carolina in the ACC Tournament (March 15, three points) and against Louisiana Tech (March 19, 10 points)…

AT WESLEYAN CHRISTIAN ACADEMY: Graduated from Wesleyan Christian Academy in 2012…averaged 19.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game as a senior…played for former Maryland star guard Keith Gatlin at Wesleyan Christian…earned All-Conference First Team honors as selected by GreensboroToday.org…totaled 21 points and seven rebounds in Wesleyan’s win over Raleigh (N.C.) Upper Room Christian during his senior season…averaged 19.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists as a junior…played his freshman season at Northeast Guilford High School in McLeansville, N.C. before transferring to Wesleyan Christian for his sophomore season…

PERSONAL: Born September 3, 1993…Montay is the son Diane and Parman Brandon…a member of the academic honor roll in each of his four years in high school…a member of the Georgia Stars AAU team…selected Florida State over Missouri, Clemson, South Carolina and Tennessee…