Memphis basketball’s heralded big man will probably never play another minute for the Tigers.
Jordan Brown, a 6-foot-11 Louisiana transfer, likely won’t return to Memphis this season after playing just seven total games for the school, sources confirm to Bluff City Media. He never eclipsed more than 20 minutes on the floor during any of those contests. Brown sat out Wednesday’s game at VCU due to an undisclosed illness, but his proverbial doctor’s note has apparently become permanent.
The fifth-year senior was expected to be a focal point of head coach Penny Hardaway’s team this season, but fell well short of those expectations. He won the Lou Henson Award last season. The award annually recognizes college basketball’s best mid-major player. And Brown was very-much worth the honor with his averages of 19.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in 2022-23.
He was a shell of that player this season, however, and averaged 6.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 13.4 minutes per game after playing 31.9 minutes per contest last season. Brown almost completely disappeared against Ole Miss last Saturday after picking up two fouls in the first 1:23 of the game and playing just seven minutes total. He finished the game with 2 points and 1 rebound, which simply isn’t good enough given the expectations for him heading into this year’s campaign.
Hardaway provided an update on Brown’s illness to reporters Friday.
“JB’s still sick, man. I gotta knock on the door today,” he said. “For real, like he’s been ill. A lot of guys got ill after the Bahamas. He didn’t. And then now it’s like, this is crazy…I was hoping [he’d feel better] after we left VCU.”