Jamar Brown Christmas time check in after 13 games

Jamar Brown was one of four important transfers along with Donovan Dent, Xavier Booker and Steven Jamerson II to come to UCLA. He was a sneaky pick up in a good transfer portal class. Being a great shooter and rebounder at his previous school Kansas City of the Summit League. He shot 36.8% from 3-point range over 62 games and doing so on 5.6 attempts per hame. His addition was seen as one that could help UCLA’s spacing on offense.

Spacing was something that was coveted by Mick Cronin and staff. As there were times last year that the floor was very congested on offense. Brown is a sharp shooter and figured to help out with those issues. While adding in elite rebounding at 6.7 per game from the shooting guard position. He averaged around 16 points per game in those 62 games and was the leading scorer for Kansas City. The Bruins had multiple guard positions to fill with Kobe Johnson graduating out and Dylan Andrews and Sebastian Mack leaving for other opportunities.

We knew that his numbers would not replicate the ones that he had at Kansas City. As there would not be as many opportunities to be the number one scorer or chances to crack the starting lineup. But it gave him a pathway to be at a larger school that is known for developing NBA players. Brown has had mixed results. Starting the season, the game looked too quick for him coming to play better opponents. But he has started to settle in and probably has studied a lot of game tape.

On the season, Brown is playing 20.4 minutes per night off the bench. Averaging 6.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per night. Doing so on 53.4/42.4/100 shooting splits. His numbers have started to pick up recently, including a 14-point effort against Cal Poly where he shot 6-7 on the night. Brown can be labeled as a microwave scorer; he can get going at any minute and it is tough to stop him. His play off the bench will be very important in helping UCLA navigate through the rest of the season.