Skip to main content
south-carolina logo

Hayden Brown eager to leave legacy at South Carolina

On3 imageby:Collyn Taylor•10/20/22•

collyntaylor

On3 image
Hayden Brown (Photo by Katie Dugan)

Unless he finds another year of eligibility under his pillow or tucked away in a corner, Hayden Brown will spend his final season of college basketball at South Carolina. 

“I have zero after this, believe it or not,” Brown said, laughing. “I don’t know if I can get a seventh year, maybe an eighth year and I don’t know at this point, but this is all she wrote.”

So he understands the sense of urgency that comes with knowing there is some finality to to this season. 

But ask Brown, and his focus rarely turns back to him. He might start there, but the attention quickly flicks back to the team and leaving a legacy in his fleeting time with the Gamecocks. 

“It’s bittersweet, honestly, but what a blessing. What a really cool and unique opportunity I have before me. I try to not look too far ahead and live by the statement of being where my feet are. And I want to be here. My feet are here in Columbia, South Carolina,” Brown said. 

“However that shapes the next 10 years of the program, I’m going to look back and say, ‘I was a small part of what grew to be a Final Four program or whatever the hope is for the team.’”

Special: Get a year of Gamecock Central for $10!

Brown had a very productive five-year career at the Citadel where he played in 111 games, logged over 2,600 minutes and scored over 1,400 points. 

In his final season with the Bulldogs he averaged 18.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the field. 

Playing for so long in the SoCon, he went up against Lamont Paris’s Chattanooga teams multiple times. Now he can’t wait to be on Paris’s bench instead of going against it. 

“I felt comfortable from the start…I’m a South Carolina guy. I feel at home…I’m still around a community that has supported me my whole career,” Brown said. “That makes it even easier to get through trials, good and bad practices, good and bad games as they come. There’s comfortability, there’s trust.”

The nearly 25-year-old player will be asked to do a lot for South Carolina this season as the most seasoned veteran of the group. 

Click here to follow the Gamecock Central YouTube page!

“Just play style. My experience of playing five years of college basketball. That definitely translates. My game and the way I play basketball translate to wherever I’m playing. It could be D-2 or playing high-major, division one,” he said. 

“The grit which I play with and the tenacity and competitiveness but the skill and versatility. All of that outside of my leadership is an added component of my role on this team.”

Time will what kind of legacy Brown leaves when his time with the Gamecocks is up. But he likes the early trajectory of the program.

“We’re building something here. That was another thing. I get to be a part of something that can quite easily be a legacy for some of these young guys, for coach Paris,” he said. “Yes, I’m here for a year. But I get to be part of something from the ground up. I don’t think a lot of people get to be a part of.” 

Discuss South Carolina basketball on The Insiders Forum!

You may also like