Brown’s Nana Owusu-Anane underwent left shoulder surgery this week and the recovery timeline is expected to keep the senior forward out of action through March, according to Bill Koch of the Providence Journal,
“We obviously feel so badly for Nana, and our main focus is getting him the support and treatment that he needs,” Brown head coach Mike Martin said in a statement to the Journal published Friday. “He’s in great hands with the medical team that is in place, and I know that he’ll attack his recovery like he always does and will come back from this better than he was before.”
The Ontario, Canada native reportedly injured his shoulder during fall practice and sought two consultations before opting for surgery.
Days after the Bears’ first-ever appearance in the 2024 Ivy League Tournament and conference final, which ended in a last-second loss to Yale, Owusu-Anane entered his name in the transfer portal. A little over a month later, the second-team All-Ivy standout, who averaged 14.7 points and 8.8 rebounds a game in 2023-24, informed Jon Rothstein that he was withdrawing his name from the portal and returning to Brown.
Owusu-Anane will remain enrolled at Brown and is on pace to graduate this spring, per Koch. If the 6′ 8″ big man cannot make it back onto the court this season, he will still have a year of eligibility remaining.
While Owusu-Anane’s former teammate Tamenang Choh was able to play for the Bears as a graduate student in the 2021-22 season, that was a one-time pandemic-era exception to the Ivy League’s rule against allowing graduate students. Owusu-Anane would have to transfer out of the Ancient Eight.
Despite the transfer of junior forward Kalu Anya to St. Louis, hopes were high that Owusu-Anane and first team All-Ivy senior guard Kino Lilly Jr. would lead Bruno to the 2025 Ivy League Tournament to be held at Brown’s Pizzitola Sports Center, and the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1986.
With both of last year’s starters out of the lineup, Martin will need increased production from 6′ 7″ junior Landon Lewis (25 games, 2.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg) and 6′ 8″ sophomore N’famara Dabo (six games, two ppg, 1.2 rpg), as well as a boost from 6′ 10″ first-year Wyatt DeGraaf from Cary Academy.