Former Liberty County High School basketball players Rion Brown and Jordan McRae were scheduled to play in their respective universities’ final regular-season home games Saturday.
Brown is a senior guard at the University of Miami, while McRae is a senior at the University of Tennessee.
Brown was one of six Hurricanes who were set to be honored against Wake Forest at the Bank United Center in Miami. Brown and seniors Garrius Adams, Raphael Akpejiori, Justin Heller, Donnavan Kirk and Erik Swoope were going to be recognized prior to the game.
According to ESPN.com, Miami won, 69-56, with Brown scoring 19 points.
According to the Hurricanes’ athletic website, Brown is one of the most improved players in the Athletic Coast Conference, transforming from the seventh man for the ’Canes a season ago to being a leader on this year’s team and drawing the most defensive attention from each opponent.
As of Friday, Brown had played 133 career games, which is the most in school history, surpassing Durand Scott, who played in 132 games.
Brown also was No. 9 on Miami’s all-time list of career 3-pointers made. His 169 3-pointers trailed Kevin Presto (170) and Guillermo Diaz (174).
On Feb. 22, Brown scored 22 points in the Miami’s 69-42 win over Boston College to surpass the 1,000-point mark in his career.
McRae was scheduled to be honored alongside seniors D’Montre Edwards, Jeronne Maymon and Antonio Barton as the University of Tennessee Volunteers hosted Missouri in Knoxville. That game had not been completed by press time.
As of Friday, McRae had 1,402 career points and was averaging 19.1 points per game this season.
McRae also was third in the Southeastern Conference in scoring with 573 points, 10th in free throw percentage (.793) seventh in 3-point field-goal percentage (.388) and sixth in 3-pointers made (2.4 per game).
According to utsports.com, McRae is on track to graduate in May with his degree in sociology/criminal justice.