Bryce Brown: Five Things To Know About Auburn Star Guard

Bryce Brown has been enormous for Auburn during the Tigers’ run to their first Final Four. The 6’3″ senior guard splashed in 26 points in a win over Kansas and 24 in a win over Kentucky. He’s been huge all tournament long and will play a huge role in the Final Four.

Here’s everything you need to know about Brown.

He was an unheralded recruit

Bryce Brown prepped at Columbia High School in Decatur, Georgia but apparently he didn’t catch the eye of national scouts. As a senior he transferred to Tucker High School. He was the 369th-ranked prospect in the class of 2015 according to the 247Sports Composite. He was the 91st-ranked shooting guard and the 22nd-ranked player in the state of Georgia.

In fact, Brown’s only major conference offer came from Auburn.

He was one of Bruce Pearl’s first commitments

Brown impressed Auburn’s coaches at Bruce Pearl’s Elite Camp in 2014. He wound up committing in November of 2014, becoming part of Pearl’s first class at Auburn. He was also the lowest-rated recruit in that first class.

He was dominant in high school

Brown averaged 25 points, six rebounds and four assists as a senior at Tucker High School in Georgia. He averaged 18 points and five assists as a junior and helped to lead Columbia High School to back-to-back state championship games, and won the title as a sophomore.

Despite those numbers and accomplishments, big schools weren’t lured in.

He’s steadily improved

Brown was good as a freshman, averaging 10.1 points in 24.7 minutes per game, but fell off a bit as a sophomore (7.5 points in 21.1 minutes). As a junior he established himself as one of Auburn’s top players, scoring 15.9 points per game in 31.2 minutes, while starting all 33 games he played in. Additionally, he shot a career-best 40.1 percent from the field and hit 38.2 percent of his 3-pointers. But he saved his best for his senior season.

This year Brown has hit career-highs across the board. He’s averaged career-bests in points (16.0), rebounds (2.1), assists (1.9), steals (1.1) and minutes (32.1) per game. He’s also shooting career-highs from the field (44.0 percent) and 3-point range (41.0).

He has been named second-team All-SEC in each of the past two years and was the SEC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player as a senior.

He declared for the 2018 draft but opted to return to school

After his breakout junior year, Brown declared himself eligible for the 2018 NBA Draft, but did not hire an agent. He went through the process but decided to return to school. He released the following statement about his decision:

"“It has been a dream of mine to play in the NBA one day. I learned a lot about my game throughout this process, and I want to thank everyone who helped me get to this point in my career. With that said, after talking with my family and coaches, I have decided to return for my senior season at Auburn.”"

Clearly he reached the goals he set forth for himself by helping take Auburn to its first Final Four as a senior.