Rhode Island Basketball: JuCo big man Tyson Brown commits to Rams

Rhode Island Basketball landed the first piece in their roster reload on Wednesday when 6’9″ JuCo transfer Tyson Brown announced his commitment to the Rams.

For Archie Miller and the Rhode Island Rams, several dominoes figure to fall in the upcoming offseason. After losing Malik Martin (and possibly Jalen Carey) at the season’s end, Rhody saw Ishmael Leggett, Abdou Samb, and Sebastian Thomas enter the transfer portal, leaving five open scholarships. But given that URI finished last season 9-22 (5-13), an opportunity to remake a good chunk of the roster isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The first step of that transformation took place this week when Miller and the Rams landed a commitment from JuCo product Tyson Brown from Florida Southwestern State College.

After last season, it makes sense that a big man was at or near the top of the URI coaching staff’s wish list. Rhody’s most productive big — Josaphat Bilau — was lost for the season in mid-December last year, and he may not be ready for opening night in 2023-24. Alex Tchikou and Rory Stewart filled in admirably in his absence, although both were playing out of position and learning on the fly. The addition of Brown should allow those two to slide back to the four spot and strengthen URI’s front court overall.

Brown brings pretty much everything to the table that you’d want from a big. In 28 games with FSW last season, he averaged 11.6 points and 9.5 rebounds while posting 10 double-doubles. He also shot it at 57.5 percent from the field, and was ranked the 24th-best JuCo in this year’s class, per JucoRecruiting.com.

There’s still plenty of work ahead for Rhode Island as they fill out their roster for next season. But Brown looks like he’ll be able to contribute in the Atlantic 10 right away, which checks one box on the to-do list.