Former UNM Basketball Standout Greg Brown Passes Away

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M – Former New Mexico men’s basketball player Greg Brown passed away in a fatal car accident Friday at the age of 51.

Brown, the 1993-94 WAC Player of the Year, starred for the Lobos in 1992-93 and 1993-94 after transferring from New Mexico Junior College. The 5-7 point guard averaged 19.3 points and 4.4 assists per game as a senior, as he was named the 1994 Pomeroy Naismith Award winner, recognizing the nation’s best player under six-feet tall. Brown also earned honorable mention All-America recognition from the United States Basketball Writers and The Sporting News

For his two-year UNM career, Brown averaged 14.7 points and 3.7 assists per game, starting 58 of his 59 contests as a Lobo. He scored a career-high 42 points in an overtime victory over UTEP at The Pit during his senior season.

A native of Albuquerque, Brown starred at Albuquerque High School, where he was the 1990 state player of the year as he led the school to a state championship. He played two seasons at New Mexico Junior College before transferring to UNM, averaging 18.5 points and 8.7 assists per game as a sophomore. He was the 1991-92 Western Junior College Athletic Conference and NJCAA District 5 Player of the Year.

In 2008, Brown was inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame, a year after being inducted into the UNM Athletic Hall of Honor. He remained involved in the local basketball community, coaching high school teams and AAU teams, both boys and girls, in Albuquerque for the past two decades. His daughter, Amaya, played her final season of college basketball for the UNM women’s basketball team in 2022-23 after beginning her career at Florida State.