Getting an early jump on 25-26 transfers
Syracuse Orange men’s basketball is showing interest in Brown graduate transfer Nana Owusu-Anane, per Joe Tipton of On3.
Brown grad transfer forward Nana Owusu-Anane has now also heard from the following schools, per his agent CJ Ward of @LIFTSPORTSMNGMT:
Butler
Kansas State
Penn State
Oklahoma State
Syracuse
Georgia
Oklahoma
Mississippi State https://t.co/M0ZOhcuIbY— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) January 3, 2025
Owusu-Anane is currently out for the season at Brown due to a shoulder injury that he suffered in the preseason. He averaged 14.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game on 46.8% from the field last season, helping lead the Bears from 6-17 and 2-6 in the Ivy League in February, all the way to being less than a second away from the NCAA Tournament against Yale in the Ivy Madness Final.
For much of his career, he was Brown’s center, which at 6 foot 8, is a little undersized for the ACC, but worked like a charm in the Ivy League because of his strength and length. Owusu-Anane ranked in the 72nd percentile of post-up efficiency for the Bears last season, with a hook shot that ranked in the 81st percentile.
He was also a bruiser that could catch the ball facing the basket, and go up strong. He led the Ivy League with 31 dunks last season, three more than Harvard’s Justice Ajogbor – now at Saint Joseph’s.
On the defensive side of the ball, he paired with Kalu Anya (now at Saint Louis) as an intimidatingly long frontcourt in the Ivy League. While Kino Lilly was (and still is) the spearhead of Brown’s offense, and one of the best pure scorers in the country, everything that the frontcourt did defensively helped drag Brown from where it started the season to where it finished.
In his two games against high-major competition last season (Providence and USC), Owusu-Anane averaged 14 points, 10 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and one block per game. The Bears lost both games.
Tipton reports that Syracuse is one of many high-major programs that has reached out to him. It’s also worth noting that being mentioned on one of these lists at this point in the process could be as little as one text message, and teams listed will have varied levels of interest.
As this is very early in the process, and Owusu-Anane is one of only a few names in the transfer portal, his name will generate a ton of early interest. Once March rolls around, and many other names go into the hat, we’ll see how he stacks up against the rest of the field.
It’s possible that Owusu-Anane might profile as more of a small ball five/bigger forward at the high-major level, given his frame, especially considering the development of his three-point shot. In his first two seasons of college ball, he made just seven total threes, but made 22 in his junior year, albeit just at 31%.
As of right now, Syracuse has 11 scholarships used up for the 2025-26 season, with four available given the scholarship limit increase from 13 to 15 in men’s basketball. However, this is before any possible portal entries from Syracuse players.