Kenny Brown grew up watching Billiken basketball from his home in Florissant, Mo. Little did he know that he would one day join the ranks of his idols and wear Billiken blue.
But Kenny Brown’s road to the Saint Louis University basketball program isn’t the same road many of his teammates took. While many of the Bills came straight to SLU out of high school, Brown took a two-year detour through Iowa before returning home to live his childhood dream.
During his freshman year at junior college Iowa Western, Brown averaged 16 points and pulled down 11 rebounds per game. That year, Brown was selected as a member of the All-Conference second team.
As a sophomore, Brown averaged 12 points per game, eight rebounds, two blocks, and shot 57.3 percent from the field, earning him the honor of being named to Street & Smith’s Preseason All-American second team.
“I wanted to go to a junior college with a good program,” Brown said. “I really developed there. I lost weight and got stronger, and my game got better.”
After two years in Iowa, Brown made the easy decision to return home to St. Louis to join the Billikens to fill the void left by forwards Matt Baniak, Chris Heinrich, and Justin Tatum.
“I wanted to play for my home team. It’s really good playing for the home crowd,” Brown said. “My family was also pressuring me to come home. They were telling me practically every day that I should come back home.”
This year, the leaner, stronger Brown proved that he could fill the shoes of the former Billikens and be an immediate key contributor to the lineup. Brown is the only player to have started every game this season and is fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 7.6 points per game and shooting 51 percent and is the leading blocker.
But it’s not Brown’s statistics that make him a truly impressive player. Most collegiate athletes only have to make the transition from high school to college competition. Brown has made two transitions and made them with the finesse and determination of a true leader.
“The transition was hard. Here, you have to play hard every possession. In Iowa, our defense was just guard your man. Our program here is more of a team defense,” Brown said.
Another challenge of playing Division I basketball is the increased level of competition, particularly in Conference USA.
“In C-USA you have to be ready to play every game,” Brown said. “There’s no chump team or no slack team that you can beat easily. You have to have your best game every time you step on the floor.”
By putting forth prodigious effort every time he sets foot on the court for a game or practice, Brown has proven that he has what it takes to be a truly great player and a truly great leader.
“I lead by example,” Brown said. “I play as hard as I can all the time, and hopefully others on the team will follow my example.”
One way he leads by example is encouraging communication between his teammates as well as coaches.
“Communication plays a big role in the game,” Brown said. “If you know where your teammate is comfortable on the floor, you know where they’re going to be and where you can pass to them.
“I’m not afraid to speak my mind to the coaches or to the other players on the team. It really helps us to communicate and relate more to each other.”
Brown’s leadership and drive comes largely from a fundamental attribute which often times gets lost in the shuffle of college athletics: he’s happy to be playing basketball, and he’s happy to be at SLU.
“I like being a Billiken, first and foremost,” Brown said. “I like the atmosphere, I like being at home and playing in front of my home crowd. I grew up watching the Billikens, and I never imagined being a part of it. It’s amazing.”
