Junior forward Andrija Bukumirović (#0) shoots a three-pointer from the left corner against the Bradley Bruins in Renaissance Coliseum on Nov. 12, 2025. | (Photo Credit / UTM Athletics) 

The UT Martin Skyhawks basketball team has opened the season 3-0 for the first time since 2020 and just the second time since 1989. A major factor in their success is the leap that junior forward Andrija Bukumirović has taken so far. 

“This is nothing unexpected for us. We [were] ready for this kind of start,” Bukumirović said. “We came here, ready to play, and we know we can win all these games.” 

A 20-year-old from Sjenica, Serbia, Bukumirović has been the Skyhawks’ best player and has been with head coach Jeremy Shulman for the longest of any players on the team (along with point guard Afan Trnka). 

Bukumirović has played organized basketball for just five years, only playing for two years before joining Shulman at junior college (JUCO) Eastern Florida State College and then eventually following him to Martin. 

“He just wants to get better all the time,” Shulman said. “He’s a sponge for knowledge. He just works his tail off. He invests in on-the-court work, in the film room, in the weight room. He’s just a nonstop worker.” 

Now, after averaging six points and five rebounds last year, Bukumirović has led the Skyhawks in points (20.5) and rebounds (8.0) through four games. 

In the bigger picture, Bukumirović has improved every single one of his averages compared to last season, including his 3-point percentage (29.7% to 69.7%) and his steals (0.4 per game to 1.7 per game). It’s a start so good that even his coach could not have predicted it. 

“Honestly, his performance in the game so far has been incredible. I wouldn’t say there’s even a moment that would have tipped us off on that,” Shulman said. “He just does what he does. He tries to make the right basketball play every possession. Whether it’s an offensive rebound, a cut, defensive, knocking down a shot, dunking, whatever it is, he’s so unselfish.” 

It’s a sentiment that Bukumirović seems to echo himself: an attitude of making the right play over stats. Even in a hypothetical situation, he wanted to make the right play. 

When asked what his go-to move to score would be, his answer was, interestingly, “offensive rebound.” 

“My go-to move is open shots. If my teammate find me — I’m an assistant player, I’m a good team player,” Bukumirović said. “I’m not going to take a ball and go tween, tween, cross, behind. No, I’m just going to [take] what I get.” 

Bukumirović has modeled his game after NBA players such as Christian Braun and Dalton Knecht, but his favorite player of all time is Michael Jordan. 

In his short career of organized basketball, Bukumirović has been mentored by two people, most recently being Shulman. 

“I been here for three years, of course, and he changed my game,” Bukumirović said. “[He] teach me some fundamental things that I didn’t know I lacked.” 

However, the coach that impacted him most was his first. 

In his hometown, Bukumirović had a someone see potential in him — and that was Coach Momir Ratković. 

“[He] saw potential in me, he took me, and he was like, ‘Kid, I’m gonna make of you a player, but you just need to know that… you don’t know how to play basketball. I need to teach you everything,’” Bukumirović said. “Honestly, I think, if I didn’t have that coach, I would probably never play basketball. If he didn’t teach me [the] things he taught me.” 

Bukumirović has made many strides to get to the place where he is today, but one of the biggest factors to his success this season had nothing to do with drills or changes in technique; it was another, less tangible thing. 

“I think I just got more confident. I figured out what my role is and I’m just taking shots confidently. Nothing in my style of play [has] changed,” Bukumirović said. “I’m still playing the same game I did last year. Just, this year, I’m confident. I don’t pass out on open shots or anything. I’m just playing the game.” 

In day-to-day life, Bukumirović says things aren’t much different from home. His hometown and Martin have similar population sizes — 10,825 for Martin and 14,060 for Sjenica. The biggest difference, Bukumirović says, is the behavior. 

“People here in the USA are, really — I always say really welcoming. Like, maybe sometimes too much. They always happy, always smile, always ready to help you with some things,” he said. “And in Europe, people are more like, ‘Okay, I help you one time, I help you two times. You cannot fool me three times.’” 

Off the court, Bukumirović says he doesn’t mind living in a small town like Martin, especially since it’s similar in size to the town he grew up in. It only amplifies his energy off the court as well. 

“Just an amazing human,” Shulman described Bukumirović as. “He’s just got this likability about him. He’s always smiling. He just gives great energy… He lights up every room that he’s in.” 

However, every success story doesn’t come without its struggles. Early in the offseason, coaches noted that Bukumirović had taken a step back in terms of practice. He needed to get back on the right path in order to succeed, and Shulman was sure to pave that path for him. 

“I thought he relaxed for the first time and we called him out on it,” Shulman said. “And I told Andrija, I said, ‘I gotta — I gotta be a truth teller, you know. Right now, you would not be in our top 12 rotation.’” 

The statement brought tears Bukumirović’s eyes, but has led to the best start of his career. 

“I tell him how proud—That’s literally a word that I use for him…He’s just so unselfish. He’s all about the team,” Shulman said. “It’s hard to separate the best days from the good days because every day is a good day for him.”