Skip to main content
KSRKSR Plus
KSBoard
Kentucky
Join KSR+

Jellybeans, Mosquitoes, and Herros: Fun Facts about Milan Momcilovic

Tyler-Thompsonby: Tyler Thompson06/03/26MrsTylerKSR

Milan Momcilovic is a Kentucky Wildcat, as sweet a sentence as I’ve typed on this website in some time. By now, you know all about the Iowa State transfer forward, who led the country in three-point shooting (both percentage and threes made) last season. You may even know that he grew up in Wisconsin and played for Tyler Herro’s dad on the EYBL circuit. Now that he’s officially a Cat and has helped pump life back into a weary fanbase, it’s time to take our research further — in the most ridiculous manner, of course.

Here are some fun facts you may not know about Momcilovic, the Serbian-American sharpshooter who could salvage the Mark Pope era at Kentucky.

His younger brother Luka is still teammates with Tyler Herro’s younger brother

As mentioned, Momcilovic’s connection to the Herro family is strong. After he went pro, Tyler Herro funded a Nike EYBL team, which was coached by his father, Chris, back in Wisconsin. Momcilovic and his little brother Luka played for Team Herro in high school alongside Austin Herro, Tyler’s little brother. John Calipari and Jai Lucas watched Team Herro play multiple games in April 2022 at the EYBL Session II in Indianapolis. Although Momcilovic played well, an offer from Kentucky never came. He eventually chose Iowa State over Louisville, Michigan State, Minnesota, UCLA, and Virginia.

Austin Herro started his career at South Carolina, playing just ten games with the Gamecocks in 2024-25. Last offseason, he transferred to St. Thomas, where he reunited with Luka, who redshirted his freshman year. Now, the families can add the Kentucky connection to their relationship.

His father played volleyball in college

While researching Luke Momcilovic, I stumbled upon this fun fact on his St. Thomas bio: their father, Nick, played volleyball for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Sadly, other than a box score from the Purdue-UW Milwaukee match in 1995, that’s as much as I could find about Nick’s college volleyball career. Someone by the same name played in a beach volleyball league in Milwaukee in 2010, but that’s where this search ended at the risk of getting truly creepy.

“Jellybean” is his secret weapon

During his freshman season at Iowa State, Momcilovic started to struggle with his three-point shot. He still made 61 three-pointers at a 35.9% clip, but he could tell something was off. In high school, his father introduced him to Dr. Matthew Myrvik, a sports psychologist who worked with the Milwaukee Bucks. Momcilovic started Zooming with Dr. Myrvik to try to solve the issue, finally settling on this one trick: saying the word “jellybean” in his head before taking a shot to clear distractions from his mind.

“(Dr. Myrvik) suggested using a food item. I don’t know why I picked ‘jellybean,’” Momcilovic told The Athletic. “Maybe because it’s a little longer word? It’s not even my favorite candy.”

“It’s more for in practice,” he said. “You practice your shot so many times, and you sometimes get thoughts that creep in your head that maybe something’s wrong. If I say it before I’m shooting, it’s a way to not think about the shot.”

It worked. As a sophomore, Momcilovic’s three-point shooting percentage improved to 39.6%. This past season, he led the country at 48.7% on 136 makes. Momcilovic has yet to land a jellybean NIL deal, but it’s only a matter of time, especially now that he’s one of the highest-paid players in the sport. He and Malachi Moreno should team up and do an ad for M&Ms, too.

Speaking of NIL…

He’s no stranger to NIL ads

With an NIL package reportedly worth over $6 million, Milan Momcilovic will be cutting plenty of ads for companies in the coming months. He’s got plenty of practice. At Iowa State, he partnered with KwikStar, MediaCom, and Crush Soda. Here is some of his best work:

He doesn’t have a middle name

If you made it to the end of that second video, you learned that Milan Momcilovic does not have a middle name. Until I got married, I didn’t either, so I feel like I’ve met a kindred spirit.

He must really hate mosquitoes

Something else Momcilovic and I have in common: we both hate mosquitoes — or, at least, I’m assuming that he does because he says his dream jobs outside basketball are gym teacher or owning a mosquito business. Momcilovic is a business major, so he probably knows there’s good (and easy) money in that.

Lots more fun facts in the video below. I’m going to ignore him saying his favorite color is orange.

“Mommy” was one of his nicknames at Iowa State

One nickname that Momcilovic didn’t share in that video is “Mommy,” which some Cyclone fans started calling him last season. It even made its way onto a shirt:

gavintitus10/Instagram

If you listened to KSR and the KSR Preshow this morning, you know Shannon the Dude endorses this nickname, even encouraging Tom Leach to yell it when Momcilovic makes threes. I doubt that will happen, but I know Ryan Lemond would approve.

Discuss This Article

Comments have moved.

Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.

KSBoard

2026-06-04