BROWN (5-3)Last Game: Brown 82, Merrimack 55 on 12/4/19
Last Game with SBU: Brown 71, Stony Brook 69 on 12/8/18; Yeboah game-high 23, Ochefu career-high 13; FTs: SBU 11-24; Brown 25-35
Checkmate Unofficial Line: Stony Brook -8.5
Net Ranking: TBD
KenPom RPI: Stony Brook 189, Brown 221
KenPom Prediction: Stony Brook 70, Brown 64
Olaniyi 1,000 Point Watch: 798
Listen/Watch:TV:
http://bit.ly/BBallGm10VidNotables:6-1/175 sr G Brandon Anderson 21.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.8 spg, .400 3-pt FG%, .796 FT%
6-5/210 jr F Tamenang Choh 14.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg
6-2/185 sr G Zach Hunsaker 11.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.6 spg
6-6/210 sr F Josh Howard 6.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg
6-9/220 so F Jaylan Gainey 5.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.0 bpg, .700 FG%
The first Saturday night tip time of the year! I'm looking forward to it, and hopefully the area makes a night of it also.
This has been a nice challenge for us in the past, with this being the fourth straight season we've faced the Bears in non-conference play. And although there's some familiarity and we'll see many of the same faces on the court on Saturday, I'm still not sure what to make of this Brown team.
The core group of Anderson, Hunsaker, Howard and Choh have really elevated the level of the program, helping them hit the 20-win mark for the FIRST TIME EVER last season. Mind you, they started playing basketball at Brown in 1900, only nine years after James Naismith's class played 9 v 9 at the Springfield YMCA. So this is truly uncharted territory for the program – actual expectations!
Their chance to repeat the feat took a big hit in the offseason with Desmond Cambridge transferred to Nevada to play under Steve Alford. There was speculation that Cambridge's younger brother, Devan, would follow him but he chose Auburn instead. The elder can't quite shoot like his new coach but he's still pretty good, having led Brown in scoring (15.7 ppg), blocks (1.7) and made threes (76) a year ago and won conference ROY as a freshman. That Ivy League degree though.
It was a tough hit for Brown but it's not a death knell. This is still an excellent nucleus that should allow Brown to vie for a spot in the Ivy's upper half. Anderson has seized the mantel as Brown's top option and then some, playing 37 or minutes in all but one of the seven games he's played in this season. He's going to do most of his damage from the outside, as will Hunsaker. Choh is an undersized forward who will use his motor to be in on every rebound, which was clear last year when he led the Ivy in boards and was named All-Ivy second team.
Some milestones of note: Otchere needs four more blocks to reach 100 for his SBU career. He's a distant second to Warney in career blocks here (276) but is ahead of him in blocks per game. I also added the Olaniyi point watch above. He should hit 1,000 sometime during conference play and has a good shot at breaking into our top five all-time as a senior – which is crazy because I still don't view him as this guy you feed but he's been so steady for so long.
Yale really beat us up inside with Bruner and Atkinson, but Brown doesn't have those kind of bigs. They got blown out in Lowell without Anderson, but how do you explain a 20-point loss at Navy and a 21-point loss at Sacred Heart with him? Well, they went 15 for 70 (.214) from three in those three losses, and they're 42 for 111 (.378) in their five wins. Hand down. Man down. Let's get after it, fellas. I really think Brown needs a special shooting night to come out on top. It would be nice to get this one with Hofstra, Providence and Virginia on the horizon.