Sam Brown commits to Davidson after two seasons with Penn men’s basketball

Penn sophomore guard Sam Brown is transferring to Davidson, he announced Saturday.

“The transfer portal, inherently, is pretty stressful,” Brown told The Inquirer. “Your future becomes very uncertain as you put your name in, and [with] that decision. There’s just so many factors that go into it. By the end, it was a really difficult decision for me, and I went with my gut.”

Brown, a second-team All-Ivy selection, notched 13.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists for Penn this season. Against Columbia, he scored a career-high 42 points, marking the most by a Penn player since 1989.

Two seasons ago, Brown was brought into the program alongside fellow freshman guard Tyler Perkins. After an impressive first year, Perkins opted to transfer to Villanova. Now, the Quakers will be without either member of their impressive Class of 2027 backcourt.

When Brown announced he would be entering the transfer portal last month, he cited the program’s recent firing of long-time coach Steve Donahue as a reason for his decision.

» READ MORE: Not just Brett Brown’s son, Sam Brown wins big at Lower Merion

“It’s really hard,” Brown said. “At some level, you need to mourn Penn because I loved my past two years here. I’ve known I was going to go here since my junior year of high school. I’ve been playing pickup here and my presence has been here for four years since I committed so early. I suppose I always planned on finishing my four years here.”

Brown becomes the first major signing of newly announced Davidson assistant general manager and Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry. It was announced last month that Curry, a Davidson grad, would be accepting the role.

Brown is the son of former 76ers coach Brett Brown. It was reported that Brett Brown had met with new Penn head coach Fran McCaffery this past week.

Before coming to Penn, Sam Brown attended Lower Merion. He left the Aces as the program’s all-time leader in three-pointers made.