Highly productive Citadel transfer Hayden Brown commits to Paris, Gamecocks
The South Carolina men’s basketball team needs players.
Since the regime change from Frank Martin to new head coach Lamont Paris, the Gamecocks have lost seven players to the portal and their entire starting five from a year ago.
On Saturday, Paris and the Gamecocks brought in their newest piece. The Citadel transfer Hayden Brown, a graduate student, announced he would transfer to Paris’ Gamecocks after also considering Loyola (Chicago) and Georgia Tech.
The 6-foot-5 versatile forward is the team’s second addition after adding walk-on Troy Boynton, a guard from Evansville.
In Brown, the Gamecocks add an experienced, multi-faceted player whom Paris has familiarity with after crossing paths with him while coaching Chattanooga in the Southern Conference. Brown led the SoCon in rebounding this past season, and he holds The Citadel record for career double-doubles with 28. He is one of three players in school history with more than 1,400 career points and 700 career rebounds.
This season, he averaged 18.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per game to go with a team-high 33 steals.
Brown is also an in-state product, who starred at Byrnes High and helped the Rebels to their first state title in 26 years when they beat Irmo 57-50 for the 2016 Class 4A championship. Brown scored 25 points and had 10 rebounds in the title game
“He is a mature, high intensity, high character kid. He will have his masters and The Citadel has helped prepare him for this,” Brown’s high school coach Layne Fowler told The State. “I don’t think five years ago he would have been ready to play in the SEC but now I have no doubt. He can be a big piece no matter where he goes.
“He is very versatile. One night, he could do it with his scoring and another night it will be defense and rebounding. He can shoot the three, but but he can body up a smaller guard or a wing inside. He can take a bigger guy off the dribble. There is a lot to like about his game.”
Brown visited the Gamecocks the weekend of April 9-10 and told The State he came away impressed by the school’s facilities and Paris’ vision for the program.
“The facilities and accessibility to the resources they have on campus definitely stood out the most to me,” Brown told The State. “We toured most of the campus and facilities and broke it up with meals and meetings, which was really beneficial. I spoke with a few of the players, but spent most of the time with the coaching staff.
“It was great to reconnect with Coach Paris again to hear his heart and the vision for the program.”
Five-star recruit visits USC
Five-star forward Julian Phillips from Blythewood visited South Carolina’s campus on Saturday. However, he told The State it is an unofficial visit and he’s planning to take an official visit to Auburn on Monday and Tuesday.
Phillips was committed to LSU but re-opened his recruitment after the Tigers fired coach Will Wade. Though he’s a South Carolina native, Phillips is playing his high school basketball at Link Year Prep in Missouri.
This story was originally published April 23, 2022 at 3:00 PM.
