Senior Kobe Brown was recognized as one of the nation’s top players on Thursday as the Missouri men’s basketball forward was named to the Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List. Awarded to the National Player of the Year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, Brown is one of 50 student-athletes to earn the midseason distinction.
Brown is enjoying a standout campaign during his senior season on campus. The first-team All-SEC Preseason selection leads the Tigers with 15.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, while also adding 2.4 assists and 1.3 assists. Brown has led Mizzou in scoring in 9-of-18 games this season (including six of the last seven games) and in boards on 11 occasions.
The Huntsville, Alabama, native is just one of five players in the country shooting at least 55 percent from the field this season and 40 percent from 3-point range – making 56.0 percent of his shots and 40.8 percent from beyond the arc. Brown is also the first Tiger in 11 years averaging at least 15 points, five rebounds and two assists.
Brown has led the Tigers to their first national ranking in two years this season and has been at his best in the team’s biggest games. He scored 61 combined points in victories over No. 16 Illinois and No. 19 Kentucky – becoming just the third player in the last 25 years with back-to-back 30-point games in wins over ranked opponents.
Overall, Brown has amassed 1,078 points and 626 boards during his four-year standout career. Following his junior campaign, Brown was named to the All-SEC Second Team.
Since the 1958-59 season, the USBWA has named a National Player of the Year and in 1998, the award was named in honor of the University of Cincinnati Hall of Famer and two-time USBWA Player of the Year Oscar Robertson. It is the nation’s oldest award and the only one named after a former player.
Brown, who was one of five from the SEC to earn the midseason distinction, and the Tigers are 14-4 on the season with a 3-3 record in conference action. Mizzou returns to the court Saturday, looking for its second-straight win over a ranked opponent and fourth of the season when it hosts No. 4 Alabama at 5 p.m.
