Former Ohio State Captain Jamaal Brown Dies At 52

By Griffin Strom on November 14, 2022 at 1:12 pm
Jamaal Brown
Ohio State Dept. of Athletics
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A four-year starter and former captain of the Ohio State men's basketball team has passed away.

Jamaal Brown, who played for the Buckeyes from the 1988-89 through 1991-92 seasons, died at age 52 in his home in Texas over the weekend, the program announced in a Monday release. Brown was a key member of two Big Ten championship teams at Ohio State in his final two years with the program.

An Arlington, Texas, native who attended Sam Houston High School, Brown went on to start in all but one of his 127 appearances for the Buckeyes. Brown averaged 9.0 points and 2.9 rebounds in 26.5 minutes per game for his Ohio State career. With 1,139 career points, Brown ranks 42nd in program history.

Brown was the third-leading scorer (12.0 points per game) as a junior on the Buckeyes' 1990-91 roster, which featured standouts such as Jim Jackson and Chris Jent and finished 27-4 with a Big Ten regular season crown in Randy Ayers' second year as head coach. Ohio State secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament that season.

Brown also scored 9.9 points per game for another Big Ten champion Buckeye team as a senior, and Ohio State repeated as a No. 1 seed come March. Brown’s final Ohio State team went 26-6 and made it to the Elite Eight, which is the furthest the program had advanced in the Big Dance in more than two decades.

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