Columbia guard Avery Brown (1) is guarded by UConn guard Malachi Smith (0) as UConn football player Skyler Bell, far left holds hits cell phone up in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, in Storrs, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Columbia guard Avery Brown (1) is guarded by UConn guard Malachi Smith (0) as UConn football player Skyler Bell, far left holds hits cell phone up in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, in Storrs, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Jessica Hill/APAvery Brown #25 of the Columbia Lions dribbles the ball during the first half of their game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Jersey Mike's Arena on December 30, 2024 in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images)

Avery Brown #25 of the Columbia Lions dribbles the ball during the first half of their game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Jersey Mike’s Arena on December 30, 2024 in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images)

Ed Mulholland/Getty ImagesAvery Brown of Beacon Falls announced on Saturday that he'll be attending Columbia University.

Avery Brown of Beacon Falls announced on Saturday that he’ll be attending Columbia University.

David Borges/Hearst Connecticut MediaMalachi Smith, left, and Beacon Falls' Avery Brown display their medals at the fourth-grade AAU nationals in Kentucky more than a decade ago with the New York Gauchos. Smith is joining the UConn men's basketball team this season after four years at Dayton. Brown is entering his senior season at Columbia.

Malachi Smith, left, and Beacon Falls’ Avery Brown display their medals at the fourth-grade AAU nationals in Kentucky more than a decade ago with the New York Gauchos. Smith is joining the UConn men’s basketball team this season after four years at Dayton. Brown is entering his senior season at Columbia.

Contributed photo/Brown family

Avery Brown is switching schools but staying in the Big Apple … and taking a huge jump up in competition.

Brown, the Beacon Falls product who played the past four years at Columbia, is transferring to St. John’s. He chose the Johnnies over other suitors, including Boston College (Luke Murray), Georgetown, Old Dominion, Marquette, Ohio, Tennessee and Baylor.

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“I wanted to put myself in a position to compete for championships, and be a part of the culture at St. John’s,” Brown told CT Insider. “Every year, they’ve been elevating their program under Coach P.”

“Coach P,” of course, is Hall of Famer Rick Pitino, who just finished his third season at the Johnnies’ helm. Pitino put Brown through one of his infamous workouts on his visit to campus.

“It was a sneak peak of what guys do every day in practice,” Brown reported.

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The 40-minute workout, supervised by Pitino, began with “tons of shooting” and concluded with Brown going fullcourt, 1-on-1 against Sadiku Ibine Ayo, a Red Storm reserve this past season who is transferring back to Iona for next season.

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“It was high-intensity,” Brown said. “You’ve got to be tough to get through it. I’m glad I was able to grind through with that, break the ice with (Pitino) and the coaching staff.”

Afterwards, he was taken on a tour of Madison Square Garden, where St. John’s plays most of its big home games, with former UConn championship point guard Taliek Brown, a St. John’s assistant. He then returned to campus to speak with Pitino and committed at that time.

Brown, a 6-foot-4 guard, started 84 of the 86 games he at Columbia. He averaged 9.7 points per game as a freshman, 9.9 as a sophomore and 11.1 as a junior.

This past season was cut short, however, by an injury he suffered in a homecoming game in November against UConn. 

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With 8:30 left in the first half of UConn’s eventual 89-62 victory, Brown was called for a foul after colliding with UConn’s Jayden Ross. He fell to the floor, face down, for several minutes as play stopped and Columbia’s training staff checked on him. 

Brown had suffered facial fractures and was later brought to Yale New Haven hospital’s triage unit. Two weeks later, he returned to the floor and played 10 minutes off the bench in a win over Longwood. But he and Columbia coach Kevin Hovde agreed that this wasn’t how he wanted his senior season to play out, so Brown decided not to return to action, instead working out and traveling with the team and supporting them while continuing to work on his degree.

On May 19, Brown will graduate from Columbia, and soon after begin his new journey with St. John’s.

Brown’s visit was coordinated by Taliek Brown. He was courted by Luke Murray, the former UConn assistant who recently took over the head coaching reins at Boston College. Brown was due to visit BC this week, but it was postponed until next week for a variety of logistical reasons. He also canceled a slated visit to BYU.

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Brown was an AAU teammate and remains a close friend of Malachi Smith, who just completed his grad transfer year at UConn, and Skyler Bell, the former UConn star wide receiver who sat courtside at that game in November.

However, although he seems to fit the role of backup combo guard that UConn is currently looking for out of the portal, Brown never heard from the Huskies.

Brown was born in Bridgeport, attended elementary school in New Haven and played for two years at Hamden Hall and one at Fairfield Prep before heading up to Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts for two years of prep ball.

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Brown will get a chance to play the Huskies again at least twice next season, including most likely at PeoplesBank Arena (where UConn delivered a record-breaking blowout of the Johnnies in February). 

Hopefully, for Brown’s sake, that game goes better both for him and his team.