Brown learning, excelling in 1st season at UNO

Former Central Catholic High School standout and University of New Orleans freshman Randi Brown may lead the Privateers’ women’s basketball team in scoring, but she and her coach will tell you that she is still adjusting to the college game.
While UNO has no dominant scorer this season, Brown is at the top of the team’s scoring chart, averaging 7.6 points per game, followed closely by fellow freshman Halie Matthews at 7.4 points per game and sophomore Octavia Wilson at 6.8 points per contest.
For Brown, though, the success has come with a season-long adjustment to the speed of the college game, something UNO coach Keeshawn Davenport said is nothing new for a freshman.
“It’s no different, just trying to figure out how and when to,” Davenport said following her team’s 56-40 loss to Nicholls Thursday in Thibodaux. “When is a good shoot, when is not a good shot. She’s doing well.”
Youth is something that is a dominant theme on the UNO squad that has struggled this season with a 2-16 mark, including a nine-game losing streak.
In Thursday’s contest against Nicholls State, the team started one junior and four sophomores.
Key players off the bench besides Brown include fellow freshmen and sophomores and just one junior.
“They are young and still growing together, and most of the time when she’s out there, she’s still out there with sophomores and other freshmen on the court,” Davenport said of Brown.
Davenport said Brown is a “pure scorer” and she can give the team points at any moment.
Brown said that the adjustment to the college game has been a big one.
“It was easy to work hard in high school and still come out and produce, but now it’s like working hard and when I’m not producing, I still got to find other ways to start producing, whether it’s on the defensive end or the offensive end,” she said.
Brown also has had to adjust to life without playing with fellow standout guard Meo Knight at Central Catholic.
Together, the duo led Central Catholic for the past three years.
Knight now is excelling as a freshman at the University of Alabama.
The duo played against each other in December, and Brown led UNO with 14 points in an 87-58 defeat to Alabama.
Brown said minus the loss, it was a “great” game.
“It was good being on the same court again, just being out there and all our friends and family coming out to support both of us,” Brown said.
At Thursday’s game, she had a Central Catholic connection in the stands as assistant girls’ basketball coach Joe Joes, who was one of her coaches during her time at the Morgan City school, was in attendance.
Asked how it is different playing in college as opposed to high school, Jones said the intensity level is raised.
“I feel she (is) playing really good defense and she’s into the offense, running the offense,” Jones said. “They got a young team, but I can honestly say I’m really impressed with the team and really impressed with her, her patience and talking up on defense and helping out, so I mean in the long run, she’s going to do really well.”
Thursday’s game was a rough one scoring-wise for Brown as she finished just 1-for-10 from the field with three points and three rebounds in 15 minutes.
However, Jones said he thought she played well in the game.
“She missed a couple shots but everybody (misses) shots. … But so far her overall game (is) really good,” Jones said.
Unlike high school, Brown now has to get in a rhythm quickly, Jones said.
“In college you’re dealing with minutes,” he said. “You’re not dealing with playing the whole game, so it’s a different aspect of everything where as in high school, you’re in there for four quarters so you can get your rhythm.”
While she has been learning and adapting, Davenport said Brown’s willingness to accept coaching will help her in the long run.