South Carolina lands commitment from transfer forward
South Carolina men’s basketball landed its first scholarship player of the Lamont Paris era.
The Gamecocks picked up a commitment Saturday from graduate transfer Hayden Brown just over a week after hosting him on an official visit.
Brown spent the first five years of his career at The Citadel where he turned into one of the best players in the Southern Conference.
The 6-foot-5, 225-pound wing/forward averaged 18.8 points in each of his last two seasons where he started every game for the Bulldogs. He has one year of eligibility left for South Carolina.
This season he averaged 32.1 minutes per game with 9.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists to 2.3 turnovers per game. He shot 51.5 percent from the field, 60.8 from two and 62.7 percent from the line.
The Gamecocks are getting someone who ended last season with an offensive rating of 106.8. Brown was top 50 in the country in fouls drawn per 40 minutes.
“Offensively he can do so much. He’s so unselfish. He can beat guys on the dribble; he can create shots for others or for himself. He’s a good 6-foot-5, probably 235 and he’s so strong,” Brown’s high school coach Layne Fowler told GamecockCentral.
“He’s been one of the top two or three players in the Southern Conference. These college coaches know that and know what they’re getting.”
He picked South Carolina over Loyola-Chicago and also Georgia Tech. He took visits to all three schools and ultimately the Gamecocks won out.
Brown has spent the majority of his life in South Carolina, playing high school basketball at Byrnes before going to Charleston for his undergraduate degree.
South Carolina amped up its recruitment of Brown once Paris and his staff took over. They made a really good impression on the graduate transfer.
“He thinks a lot of coach Paris. His exact words to me this week is, ‘Coach, I love the vibe I have with coach Paris.’ Hayden’s a vibe kind of guy. He operates to the beat of his own drum. He’s strongly willed in his faith. He’s not one of those guys that makes rash decisions,” Fowler said. “Hayden feels like coach Paris has a good idea of what they’re trying to do and get accomplished.”
Brown becomes the first scholarship player to commit to Paris since taking over in March with the Gamecocks still recruiting a host of portal prospects.
Troy Boynton of Evansville committed to the Gamecocks recently as a non-scholarship player initially.
South Carolina now has five scholarships available for the 2022 class.
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