When senior forward Nick Burt traveled with the Washington University men’s basketball team to Memphis for a weekend series back in mid-November, he did so with a heavy heart. Just before the trip, Burt’s grandfather had passed away.

Senior forward Nick Burt surveys the court against Case Western Reserve University on Feb. 1, a game in which Burt scored a career-high 25 points and tallied 10 rebounds. Burt is averaging 14 points and 6.9 rebounds per game this season.

“My grandparents have always been my No. 1 fans,” Burt said. “Luckily my parents were there to support me, but ever since I keep him in my mind before every game.”

Playing through the grief, Burt scored a then career-high 17 points against Hendrix College. He now plays every game with his grandfather’s initials etched onto his shoes.

That somber weekend heralded the start of a transformative season for Burt, who has transitioned from a marginal role player in previous seasons to a major component of the Bears’ offense and has partially filled the void left by the departure of seniors Alan Aboona, Chris Klimek and Tim Cooney last year.

“I think just my role has changed, like last year we had a ton of really talented offensive guys, three seniors that started and graduated last year,” Burt said. “Obviously, they could carry the team with their scoring, so I was mainly just focused on defense and rebounding. So this year, with those guys gone, the seniors each year now have to step up and do a little bit more, so I’ve just been trying to be a bit more aggressive in getting my shot.”

After averaging 7.8 points per game as a starter last season, Burt has nearly doubled his production en route to scoring 14 points per game this season, good enough for second on the team behind fellow senior forward Matt Palucki’s 15.6 per game.

Recently, Burt has enjoyed a further spike in production. In a stretch that began with Burt setting career highs in points in successive games against Carnegie Mellon University (20 points) and Case Western Reserve University (25 points) on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1, respectively, he has been averaging 18.5 points per game.

“This year, we’ve had a ton of really good guard play,” Burt said, deferring praise to his teammates. “Like [junior guard Luke Silverman-Lloyd] has really broken out, especially these past couple of weeks…So if guys are drawing more attention, that gives me a little room to operate and just trying to be aggressive every time I get the ball to either make a play or just make the right pass.”

Helping Burt this season, especially in his recent stretch of scoring, has been an adjusted mentality. Throughout his collegiate career, Burt has wrestled with the mental aspects of performing on the hardwood.

“For me, I get so excited and anxious leading up to the game that if I think about it too much I will just stress myself out,” he said.

To combat nerves, Burt, along with several other teammates, took a class run by Wash. U. professor Tom Allen called Cognitive Bases of Peak Performance, which covered the psychological obstacles of sports. This training has helped Burt simplify the game in front of him.

“A lot of that training helped me calm my nerves and visualize the game so that when the time comes I’m not as worked up,” Burt said. “Even up until last year and the beginning of this year, I always got super nervous before the games, and a lot of times I almost have too much energy in the games so I’m all over the place. I think this year I’ve become much more comfortable in my role on the court, so that’s allowed me to just relax and let the game slow down.”

As a forward, it is Burt’s job to focus on interior play, layups, hitting the mid-range jumper and providing a strong defensive presence in the paint. However, every so often, Burt receives the chance to play outside his position. For example, Burt took the second three-point attempt of his collegiate career against then-No. 5 Illinois Wesleyan University on Dec. 13.

“They knew that we were trying to get the ball inside to [Palucki] so I kind of knew that if I shot this one and made it they would have to adjust,” Burt said.

Off an assist by senior guard David Fatoki, Burt drained the three-pointer, giving the Bears an 11-point lead en route to their 10th win of the young season.

The sharpshooting continued, although with dramatically less success. After two missed three-pointers, one against Coe College and another against the University of Chicago, Burt terminated the experiment.

“If I had my choice I would have been one for one,” Burt said.

Burt has also been known to get involved in the passing game. Against Case Western, Burt dished out a team-high seven assists—but he claims that he will not be unseating Fatoki, whose 7.5 assists per game ranks third in Division III, as the primary distributor.

“You know we’ve looked at that, and as much as I’d love to tell coach [Mark Edwards] that I want to run point, you can see how many assists [Fatoki] has,” Burt said. “We definitely trust David with making the passes, but you know I like to make some passes when the opportunity presents itself.”

With the season winding down and postseason positioning coming down to the final games—the top-five teams in the University Athletic Association are separated by just one game—Burt is just thankful to still be in contention.

“If you had told me in the beginning of the season that we could lose five games in conference and still be in contention, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Burt said. “Because we only have a couple games left in the regular season, and who knows how many else, I just try to really make every game count and really try to play to make my grandpa proud.”