The busiest Mongolian during the Dayton Flyers’ season opening 73-46 victory over Lindenwood on Monday night at UD Arena was Mike Sharavjamts.

Sure the 6-foot-8 freshman guard made history and showed why he’s already become the crowd favorite. He displayed a veteran’s confidence as he hit a game-opening three-pointer from right in front of the rival Lions bench and, soon after, followed it up with a no-look pass to DaRon Holmes, who promptly dunked.

But while Sharavjamts finished with 10 points, five assists and no turnovers, he at least got to take a few breathers on the bench after becoming just the second true freshman to start for the Flyers in the past 10 seasons.

Sharavjamts, ranked as this year’s No. 91 overall recruit per 24/7 Sports, finished with a totally respectable 10 points, five assists, and three rebounds in his first college game. For his thousands of fans across the world, the confident debut was cause to celebrate. Sharavjamts is the first Mongolian athlete to earn a Division 1 scholarship, and he’s just the second true freshman to start for Dayton in a decade.

In attendance was Mike’s father Sharavjamts Tserenjankhar, better known as Shark. Shark was a star in local leagues in Ulan Bator at 7-feet tall until he was discovered by former LSU coach Dale Brown (who also discovered a 12-year-old Shaquille O’Neal at a German military base). Brown thought Tserenjankhar could be one of the best players in college basketball, until he found out he was 27. Instead, Tserenjankhar signed a contract with the Harlem Globetrotters and became the first professional basketball player from Mongolia.

Basketball has slowly been growing in popularity in Mongolia in the decades since. A recent estimate claims that 20,000 kids are playing organized basketball in the capital now. Three-on-three is the preferred format; the Mongolian men’s team has finished in the top 10 in two of the last three FIBA 3×3 World Cups, and the women’s team qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.