The games can seem epic in nature to a younger brother.
Be it with a small basketball lofting toward a miniature hoop inside their Bethel Park home or a regulation-sized ball soaring in the direction of a rim just outside those walls in their driveway, when Ryan Meis sizes up his sibling, Justin, their showdowns amount to quite the friendly sibling rivalry dating back to their childhood.
“There were many games in the driveway where he left me wondering, ‘Man, you’ve got to be kidding me, I can’t beat him,’” said Ryan, the younger Meis brother by two years. “I think in the past couple of years, I’ve gotten revenge on the last 16 years of my life.”
For Ryan, now a senior on the Seton Hill men’s basketball team, those matchups against Justin, a pitcher selected by the hometown Pittsburgh Pirates in the 10th round of the 2021 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, rose above a mere rivalry.
The games provided a proving ground.
“We play a decent bit when we’re both home, usually on a mini hoop, just to kind of even the playing field out a little bit because he’s certainly more athletic than I am,” said Ryan Meis, who also played two seasons of varsity baseball and basketball at Bethel Park with Justin. “I think I’d like to say that I get him most times, but it certainly wasn’t like that for a while. He kind of had his way with me.
“Being the younger brother of a very good athlete, you kind of learn how to grow up pretty quick in terms of you’ve got to hold your own. It was a dream growing up with him.”
Ryan Meis is now undoubtedly more than simply holding his own at the NCAA Division II level.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pound guard has matured into one of the top shooters in the nation.
Meis leads the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and is in the top 10 in the country in 3-pointers made with 61, while his average of 3.47 made 3-pointers per game is seventh best across all of Division II. He is making an average of 40% of his attempts from 3-point range and 44% of his shots from the field per outing.
“I think it just starts with confidence, just the confidence in yourself,” Meis said. “I think shooting is a neat thing because you can hang on your last shot if you want to and that’s just going to affect the next shot. You’ve just got to have a short memory is the biggest thing, and just not be afraid to let it go when you’re open.
“I think that’s something that I’ve definitely struggled with in the past and I think coach and my teammates have just given me the ultimate confidence, and the ultimate green light, to just go out there and hunt shots.”
Meis, a 2020 Bethel Park graduate, is averaging a team-high 15.2 points per game this season for Seton Hill, while also making 84% of his free throws and contributing 3.2 rebounds per outing with 25 assists and 25 steals. He scored a team-high 14 points and made a pair of 3-pointers Saturday afternoon in the Griffins’ 74-63 victory at Edinboro.
“He’s an elite human being,” second-year Seton Hill coach Ben Wilkins said. “I’ve been fortunate to do this for 20-plus years and I haven’t coached a better person than Ryan. Just the total package with who he is character-wise, his work ethic, his IQ, his understanding of people and then he’s just so team-oriented. He’s a special person. He really is.”
Meis initially began to contribute as a sophomore at Seton Hill, when he appeared in 26 games and made 14 starts. He averaged 10 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
Then as a junior a season ago, Meis became a steady component of Wilkins’ starting lineup, making 27 starts in 29 games, averaging 10.1 points per game and scoring in double figures 14 times.
“It starts with his ability to shoot the basketball but I think he’s got an unbelievable motor,” Wilkins said. “He can play really hard every possession of every game and every practice. He has unbelievable competitive stamina but he never gets tired mentally or physically and that’s a rare trait.”
The next stage of Meis’ development will be to refine his ability to score at the rim, Wilkins said.
“It’s a fine line because you always have to do what you do best first, so he’s still got to get enough shots up but now when teams are running at him making that next step to finish,” Wilkins said. “I’ve already seen the progression here in the last four or five games that he’s using that 3 as a weapon to get to the front of the rim a little bit more.”
That progression is just fine by Meis.
“It’s funny, if you would talk to anyone four years ago like even the guys I played high school with, that I’m still really close with, or coaches, AAU coaches, if you would’ve told them that I’m shooting the ball as well as I am I think it would kind of be a funny thing,” Meis said. “I was always the drive-first, facilitate kind of guy, kind of like your true point guard in a sense.”
When he transitioned to Seton Hill, Meis said he looked for ways to best help his team and began developing his outside shooting presence.
“I quickly realized if I could knock down shots, that might be the area that I could help most,” Meis said. “I’ve worked really hard at just trying to develop myself into a shooter but I still think I cling onto some of my tendencies as a drive-first guy.”
Meis’ unselfish play and leadership capabilities are two aspects of his guard play, which Wilkins said he plans to continue to build his program around.
“He brings just an unbelievable energy and passion to life and to the game every day,” Wilkins said. “Guys definitely look up to him. I think sometimes, too, you have to walk the walk first as a leader and Ryan Meis walks the walk at the highest level. I think that’s where it starts with his leadership. Anything he says, everyone knows it’s coming from a high-character individual and somebody that is team first.”
With a year of eligibility left because his freshman season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Meis said he, too, looks forward to his future in basketball and the development of the Griffins’ program.
“We always rave that kind of what we do here is uncommon and the way we do it is uncommon,” he said. “It’s a special place here, and I’m just making sure that we’re not taking that for granted.
“I’m just super excited about the fact that I have another year and a half here,” Meis added. “I’m certainly looking forward to the sprint home this year. In terms of February basketball, there’s nothing like it.”
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.