Utah guard Brandon Taylor is an integral part of the Runnin’ Utes, but he downplays his star power.
“I didn’t know I was a role model until my little brothers let me know I was a role model,” Taylor said.
Those little brothers, Isaiah, 10, and Jordan, 7, never outright told their brother that they looked up to him, but their admiration for him first became evident during Taylor’s years on the court at Pacific Hills High School in West Hollywood, Calif.
“They were always, ‘Brandon this and Brandon that,’ ” Taylor said. “They think I’m like this superstar, so it makes me feel that I have to fulfill those superstar roles.”
Taylor has started to shine brighter as of late. He hit clutch shots in games against Colorado and Washington and led Utah in scoring in three of the past six games leading up to Wednesday’s contest against Arizona.
During a recent pre-practice shootaround at the Huntsman Center, Taylor was putting up shots with a boy he calls “Little Mac,” a child with leukemia who has become the Runnin’ Utes’ “little buddy.” A media member approached Taylor, who obliged in answering questions but kept looking back at Mac, not wanting to miss a chance to brighten his day.
Taylor has an uncanny ability to make people smile. He’s funny and loud but also has a lot of heart. After games he signs autographs and talks to fans. He gets his warmth and charisma from his mother, Taradell Lewis.
“My mother is one funny, outlandish individual,” he said. “We’re pretty much the same. We are very outspoken, approachable and friendly. We both like to make people laugh.”
Ever since Taylor was a youngster, he remembers his mom being the loudest one at games.
“I always knew she was there,” Taylor said.
Though Lewis isn’t able to see all of her son’s college games, she still makes an occasional trip to Salt Lake City to watch him. During the Utes’ pregame shootaround in preparation for their home contest against UCLA in January, Utah ran a play that resulted in Taylor throwing a lob for teammate Dakarai Tucker. Lewis jumped to her feet and yelled “Woo!” in approval.
“When that happened, I just looked back and said, ‘Oh my gosh, she just don’t know,’ ” Taylor said with a laugh. “It’s funny. It’s cute.”
Lewis has had many chances in her life to cheer for her son on the court. Ever since Taylor can remember, a basketball has been in his hands. Even when he was just a toddler he favored basketball over watching cartoons.
“I would stop crying if [my parents] gave me a basketball,” Taylor said. “Ever since then I never put one down. When something sticks with you that long, it becomes [second] nature to you.”
Taylor’s budding basketball career reached a pivotal point in the third grade when he became acquainted with Rosi Valentine, a playground coach who ran an after-school sports program. Valentine and Taylor quickly bonded, and Valentine became a mentor for Taylor.
“For some reason we just stuck and stuck and stuck,” Taylor said. “He taught me everything about basketball.”
To this day, Valentine and Taylor remain close, with Valentine often sending text messages after games to his longtime student.
Valentine always challenged Taylor to play one-on-one games against bigger players. Taylor came to develop a relentless mindset on the court, something that has served him well in his time as a Ute. Standing at just 5’10”, Taylor is often the smallest player on the floor and has had to answer questions about his size for as long as he can remember.
“I have always been the shorter one, but no one has ever told me that I play short,” he said.
Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak often calls upon Taylor to guard opposing teams’ premier scoring guards.
“He does a really good job defensively, even though he doesn’t have a lot of size,” Krystkowiak said. “He gets dialed in what we are doing scouting-wise, and he guards the most potent wing player, and that’s not easy to do.”
Taylor has never allowed his height to affect his mindset.
“My height has never haunted me,” he said. “I have never thought, ‘Maybe I’m too small.’ I haven’t thought like that, and I will never think like that. My heart doesn’t let me think like that. I can’t change anything about my height, so I will do other things to be successful.”
Taylor’s success has come with a feeling of responsibility to his younger siblings. He wants to set a good example and pass down his passion, his laugh and his heart.
“I want them to look at me and think, ‘I want to go down that same road he went down,’ ” Taylor said.
But his brothers aren’t afraid to critique him. It’s when Taylor hasn’t performed well that he is disappointed — not only because he let his team down, but because he fell short of his brothers’ expectations also.
“If I don’t have a good game, I feel like I let them down a little bit,” he said. “They always ask me, ‘What happened, Brandon?’ and they tell you how they feel, too. Like they will say, ‘Brandon, you suck.’”
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