4/20/2023 basketball Edit

Tiger Season Review: Kobe Brown

Drew King • PowerMizzou

Basketball Writer

Over the last few weeks, PowerMizzou.com took a look back at the season for each of the Tigers’ rotational players. The series ends this week with senior forward Kobe Brown.

Brown's decision to stay with Missouri after the school hired new head coach Dennis Gates may have been the biggest swing factor in the team’s success this year. Brown was coming off a junior season in which he’d averaged 12.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists and earned a spot on the All-SEC Second Team. Playing in Gates’ system unlocked parts of Brown’s game that hadn’t been seen before in his college career.

The biggest and most obvious improvement was Brown’s ability to knock down shots from outside. Throughout his first three years with the Tigers, Brown connected on just 23.7% of his 3-point tries. Brown said he’d been a good shooter in high school but under former head coach Cuonzo Martin, he’d tried to embrace the more physical aspects of his game. Gates emboldened Brown to take more triples, leading to the 6-foot-8 forward becoming the team’s highest-percentage shooter. Brown shot 3.3 treys per game and made them at a 45.5% clip — the most accurate mark in the SEC and 17th-highest in the nation.

Brown’s development from deep forced opposing defenders to respect his range and guard him farther from the basket. MU often had five players on the floor capable of sinking a 3, which opened up the floor for both Brown and his teammates. Mizzou made 55.8% of its 2-pointer this season, which ranked 14th in the NCAA. For his part, Brown made 45.5% of his 2s, which ranked 17th in the country, backing down opponents on the block and bullying his way to the rim.

The Huntsville, Ala. native became more efficient as a facilitator as well. Brown, who played point guard in high school, has always had playmaking skills as part of his game. Last season, he handed out 81 assists but gave away 77 turnovers to go along with it. This year, Brown did a much better job of taking care of the ball, dropping 86 dimes and only coughing it up on 56 occasions.

The team captain’s production as a rim-protector and a rebounder slightly dipped. In the 2021-22 season, Brown swatted 3.2% of opponents’ 2-point shots per KenPom, which ranked 354th in the country. This year, Brown only blocked 1.9% of shots, which fell outside of the top 500. Brown made up for it by swiping more steals, pilfering the ball away on a career-high 2.9% of possessions.

Brown was still a top-400 glass cleaner on the defensive boards but saw his defensive rebounding rate drop from 20.5% to 18.3% according to KenPom. His offensive rebounding rate also declined from 7.7% to 7.3%.

For the season, Brown averaged 15.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and a career-high 1.5 steals while earning All-SEC First Team honors and leading Missouri back to the NCAA tournament. Brown has one season of eligibility remaining and has not announced his plans for next year, though Gates believes he will test the NBA Draft waters — a mock draft made by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo last week had Brown being selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round with the 43rd overall pick.

Whether Brown returns next season or not, he’s likely already cemented his legacy as one of the Tigers’ all-time best. If he does choose to use his final year of eligibility, he’d likely be an SEC Player of the Year candidate and could help Mizzou make an even deeper run in March Madness.

“His relationship with Missouri, it will go long beyond his years of playing here,” associate head coach C.Y. Young said. “He'll be back supporting this university or working at this university in some capacity, I really believe that … That bond and that relationship is what college basketball was meant to be.”