Murray State’s Pro Lineage Continues with Tevin Brown
By: Robert Banas
When people watch or talk about College Basketball, the Ohio Valley Conference rarely comes up into the discussion of being one of the fiercest divisions in the sport. With so many Mid-Major schools and players, many talented teams filled with motivated players sneak under the radar of scouts and fans. Just last year Belmont upset Temple during March Madness. Ja Morant and Tevin Brown of Murray State also added an upset win in the tournament. The conference as a whole has manufactured some talented role players into the NBA in the past decade including Kenneth Faried and Robert Convington.
Looking at Murray State specifically, there has been a lineage of skilled, killer-instinct guards coming out of the university. The list includes 2nd round pick Isaiah Cannan in 2013, lottery pick Cameron Payne in 2015, Jonathan Stark now having a great year with Minnesota’s G League team, and of course rookie sensation Ja Morant who should undoubtedly win the NBA Rookie of the Year award this year.
Ja’s former teammate, Tevin Brown, is the next Murray State guard to put himself in position to play in the NBA.
Tevin Brown, a 6’5” 175-pound Sophomore from Fairhope, Alabama, is an NBA caliber shooter. He is currently 9th in the country in 3-point percentage, shooting an absolutely absurd 45.7% on his shots from deep. This stat should not surprise you when you start looking at his high school career. As a member of the 2000 points club in HS, he averaged 24ppg and 11rpg as a Junior, was an All-State player, and Mr. Basketball Finalist in the state of Alabama.
Coming into college with this impressive basketball resume, Tevin played well as a Freshman off-ball Shooting Guard that complemented Ja’s playmaking game nicely. Brown put up 11.8ppg, 4.7rpg, and 2.3apg on an efficient 37.2% shooting clip from three. He was an integral part of helping Murray State get into March Madness.
This year, however, with Ja gone, Tevin has taken his game to new heights. His usage percentage is up to 23% from 16.7% last year as he has become Murray State’s top scoring option. His 4.6-win shares, which already exceed how many he had last year, rank him as the 14th most valuable player in the entire NCAA. Tevin is an absolute workhorse as he leads the OVC in minutes played (around 37mpg). These increased minutes played paired with his increased usage rate have boosted his sophomore year numbers to 18.5ppg, 4.7rpg, 3.5apg, and an extremely productive 22.6PER. His effective play has helped the team to an 18-7 record, which includes an insane 11 game win streak that places Murray State as the top team in the Ohio Valley Conference.
While watching Tevin’s game on film, a few of his skills stand out among his peers that label him as an under the radar NBA caliber player. The first is obviously his shooting ability. With his pretty jumper, he is tied for the most 3 pointers made in a game in Murray State history when he buried 9 three pointers in a game as a freshman. Tevin reads opposing defenses very well as he knows how to come off screens to free up space to fire off uncontested shots. Though he is not a great isolation scorer, his go to move of taking a mid-range step back jumper falling to his right is deadly and almost unguardable. His current game is more of a spot up shooter role in which he is lethal when left open from deep. Though he is a good passer in transition, the rest of his playmaking game needs some improvement. He definitely needs to work on his ball handling and creating his own shot off the dribble if he wants to be a scorer at the next level. Additionally, he has a tendency to lean back and unnecessarily fade on some of his jump shots, but you cannot really criticize this when he shoots an unworldly 45.7% from three.
NBA prospect specialist Rashad Phillips feels that Tevin Brown’s style is tailor fit for the NBA game. “Tevin has a terrific feel for the game and is a top 5 jump shooter in college. Given that, and how Murray State has a proven track record of producing NBA players, I believe Tevin is next up.” says Phillips.
All in all, his game has some flashes of Klay Thompson in it. They are lethal spot up shooters that can fire shots from anywhere on the court by coming off of screens while having limited dribbling ability. When comparing their numbers side by side in college, there can be an argument made that he has potential to be this decade’s Klay.
Looking at Murray State specifically, there has been a lineage of skilled, killer-instinct guards coming out of the university. The list includes 2nd round pick Isaiah Cannan in 2013, lottery pick Cameron Payne in 2015, Jonathan Stark now having a great year with Minnesota’s G League team, and of course rookie sensation Ja Morant who should undoubtedly win the NBA Rookie of the Year award this year.
Ja’s former teammate, Tevin Brown, is the next Murray State guard to put himself in position to play in the NBA.
Tevin Brown, a 6’5” 175-pound Sophomore from Fairhope, Alabama, is an NBA caliber shooter. He is currently 9th in the country in 3-point percentage, shooting an absolutely absurd 45.7% on his shots from deep. This stat should not surprise you when you start looking at his high school career. As a member of the 2000 points club in HS, he averaged 24ppg and 11rpg as a Junior, was an All-State player, and Mr. Basketball Finalist in the state of Alabama.
Coming into college with this impressive basketball resume, Tevin played well as a Freshman off-ball Shooting Guard that complemented Ja’s playmaking game nicely. Brown put up 11.8ppg, 4.7rpg, and 2.3apg on an efficient 37.2% shooting clip from three. He was an integral part of helping Murray State get into March Madness.
This year, however, with Ja gone, Tevin has taken his game to new heights. His usage percentage is up to 23% from 16.7% last year as he has become Murray State’s top scoring option. His 4.6-win shares, which already exceed how many he had last year, rank him as the 14th most valuable player in the entire NCAA. Tevin is an absolute workhorse as he leads the OVC in minutes played (around 37mpg). These increased minutes played paired with his increased usage rate have boosted his sophomore year numbers to 18.5ppg, 4.7rpg, 3.5apg, and an extremely productive 22.6PER. His effective play has helped the team to an 18-7 record, which includes an insane 11 game win streak that places Murray State as the top team in the Ohio Valley Conference.
While watching Tevin’s game on film, a few of his skills stand out among his peers that label him as an under the radar NBA caliber player. The first is obviously his shooting ability. With his pretty jumper, he is tied for the most 3 pointers made in a game in Murray State history when he buried 9 three pointers in a game as a freshman. Tevin reads opposing defenses very well as he knows how to come off screens to free up space to fire off uncontested shots. Though he is not a great isolation scorer, his go to move of taking a mid-range step back jumper falling to his right is deadly and almost unguardable. His current game is more of a spot up shooter role in which he is lethal when left open from deep. Though he is a good passer in transition, the rest of his playmaking game needs some improvement. He definitely needs to work on his ball handling and creating his own shot off the dribble if he wants to be a scorer at the next level. Additionally, he has a tendency to lean back and unnecessarily fade on some of his jump shots, but you cannot really criticize this when he shoots an unworldly 45.7% from three.
NBA prospect specialist Rashad Phillips feels that Tevin Brown’s style is tailor fit for the NBA game. “Tevin has a terrific feel for the game and is a top 5 jump shooter in college. Given that, and how Murray State has a proven track record of producing NBA players, I believe Tevin is next up.” says Phillips.
All in all, his game has some flashes of Klay Thompson in it. They are lethal spot up shooters that can fire shots from anywhere on the court by coming off of screens while having limited dribbling ability. When comparing their numbers side by side in college, there can be an argument made that he has potential to be this decade’s Klay.
As can be seen by the numbers, they play the same type of game. Tevin and Klay similarly progressed from year 1 to year 2 in their college careers, however, Klay’s usage rate was above 30% both years while Tevin’s was only 16.7% as a Freshman and now 23% as a Sophomore. Looking even further, you can see that while Klay Thompson’s shooting efficiency declined when his volume increased, Tevin’s shooting percentages becomes even better when he shoots more, which demonstrates that he can be an above average shooter at the next level.
While Tevin’s future is not clear at this point, there is no doubt in my mind that he is going to continue to play well. His shooting touch is already extremely advanced, so if he can round out his game and add a little bulk to his frame, he could project to be a deadeye shooting guard off the bench at the next level. He has demonstrated that he can play off-ball well like he did in his Freshman year alongside Ja, and that he can put the team on his back and lead as the top option on a team. It will be interesting to see if Murray State can sneak into March Madness again this year and squeak out a few upsets, this time led by Tevin Brown instead of Ja Morant. Remember this article when Tevin and Murray State make some noise when March comes around.
While Tevin’s future is not clear at this point, there is no doubt in my mind that he is going to continue to play well. His shooting touch is already extremely advanced, so if he can round out his game and add a little bulk to his frame, he could project to be a deadeye shooting guard off the bench at the next level. He has demonstrated that he can play off-ball well like he did in his Freshman year alongside Ja, and that he can put the team on his back and lead as the top option on a team. It will be interesting to see if Murray State can sneak into March Madness again this year and squeak out a few upsets, this time led by Tevin Brown instead of Ja Morant. Remember this article when Tevin and Murray State make some noise when March comes around.