By Palmer Johnson
Brayden O’Connor, a 6’4 transfer guard/wing out of UMass Lowell, has committed to playing for Tony Skinn and your George Mason Patriots.
🔰 𝓟𝓪𝓽𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓽 𝓟𝓵𝓮𝓭𝓰𝓮 🔰
George Mason has earned the commitment of UMass Lowell transfer Brayden O’Connor.
The 6’4 Guard averaged 9.9ppg, 3.8rpg & 2.2apg last season, converting 35.4% from 3pt. A native of Ottawa, ON, O’Connor has two years of eligibility remaining. pic.twitter.com/ungpteoBxk
— George Mason Recruiting (@GMURecruiting) April 17, 2024
O’Connor is a rising junior from Ottawa, Ontario, and will have two years of eligibility remaining. His freshman season at UMass Lowell overlaps with assistant coach Louis Hinnant’s time there.
Brayden visited Fairfax on Monday, April 15th. He also visited Loyola Marymount the previous week. O’Connor chose Mason over multiple other A10 and P6 schools, including UMass, St. Bonaventure, and Seton Hall.
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O'Connor averaged 9.9ppg for the River Hawks last season. 35% 3PT shooter. 2 years of eligibility remaining. https://t.co/Km0TuSSbBM
— George Mason Recruiting (@GMURecruiting) April 11, 2024
It likely isn’t all because of him, but I have to mention that UMass Lowell has had their two best seasons since going D1 while he was there.
O’Connor By The Numbers
O’Connor was in the rotation as a freshman, but was a cornerstone as a sophomore, becoming a full-time starter.
As a sophomore, Brayden averaged 9.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, .9 steals, and 35 minutes per game, shooting 42.4% from the field, 35.4% from three, 77.5% from the line, and 55.7% true shooting.
During conference play, he turned it up a notch, averaging 10.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.1 steals, on 45.9% shooting from the field, 48% shooting from three, and 79.3% shooting from the line.
It is easy to take more stock in the more recent shooting splits. It is also important to note that he was their best shooter in terms of blending volume and efficiency, so if he goes to a team with better shooters, he will likely get higher shot quality.
35 minutes per game is a lot. O’Connor has played in two games in his career where he logged over 40 minutes. He likely would never play this many for Mason, but it is nice to know that he can do it if needed.
Brayden has been touted as a great 3 and D wing, meaning his impact is made mostly outside of the box score, but we’ll see more about that during the scouting report section.
The following stats are from College Basketball Scouting on YouTube via Synergy Sports.
O’Connor took 48% of his shots at the rim, making 52% of them. That isn’t bad, but you would like the efficiency to be higher.
Brayden shoots better from the left than the right, making 39% of threes from the left wing, but only 24% from the right.
The UMass Lowell wing is pretty good in the pick and roll, as he scores .9 points per possession when he shoots as the ball-handler, which sounds low, but that is in the 77th percentile.
Brayden O’Connor Scouting Report (3/16 vs. Vermont)
This was the American East final. This is our new guy on the biggest stage he’s likely ever played on. It is also a unique situation since it is pretty much a home game for Vermont.
In regard to his game as a whole, Brayden loves to be the guy that dives for loose balls. Not only is he a ball of energy, but he can play complete games. In this showing, he came out of the game for the first time at the under-eight media timeout in the second half, and it was only for two minutes.
UMass Lowell trusted him in big moments, as the ball went to O’Connor on both ends in crunch time, and he capitalized on both.
On offense, I was kind of surprised that he brought the ball up the court a lot. This makes him an important piece for when Mason plays teams who press. Not only did he bring the ball up the court, he also played point for them on a decent bit of possessions. There’s definitely has some playmaking upside, you’d likely want him as a secondary ballhandler and playmaker.
O’Connor would rather pass than force a bad shot, which is nice to see. When the shot clock gets late, he has a nice turnaround mid-range jumpshot in his toolbox.
Pretty late in the game, UMass Lowell called a play for him that was a lob off an inbound pass, which he converted into an and-one. It’s cool that they trust Brayden to do fun stuff like that.
In the normal half-court setting, Brayden has the ability to be a cutter. When he isn’t cutting, O’Connor is setting very solid screens for a guy his size. UMass Lowell had him sitting in the corner a lot, but if his man helped off of him, he made him pay.
If Brayden knows he cannot get the rebound, he does a great job at tipping it toward his teammates. The shot wasn’t really falling for most of this game, but O’Connor made his impact on the game in other ways. That’s a sign of a truly valuable player, what can he do when he can’t score?
O’Connor played in a rough offense, it is incredible that his numbers looked that good.
On defense, this is where he makes his mark. Brayden is an active on and off ball defender, flying around screens on both. If the guy he is guarding is someone who chills in the corner, the UMass Lowell transfer can handle the balance of covering him while also helping inside.
In this game, O’Connor was primarily guarding Vermont’s Shamir Bogues, who shot 5-13 in the game. He turned an All-Conference first team guy into a volume scorer.
When Bogues was out of the game, O’Connor was guarding 6’0 5th year guard Aaron Deloney. He was locking him up. Isolation, off-ball, you name it. Deloney isn’t a guy who is easily stopped, but Brayden did it well.
My favorite thing about Brayden is his fearlessness when challenging dunks, especially in the fast break. O’Connor doesn’t care if he gets postered, he wants to make that shot as hard as possible.
Speaking of fast breaks, Brayden is really good at stopping them, both in terms of making them hard, but also in stopping them from happening, as he will hustle to chase down the breakaway guy to make it a much more difficult outlet pass.
UMass Lowell occasionally played switch-everything defense, and O’Connor did a great job in making sure that there were never miscommunications when he was involved.
Areas of Improvement:
There aren’t really many areas of weakness that he showed, as he is a role player, and played his role very well. If I were to pick one thing, it would be finishing around the rim.
Where Does He Fit In?
The River Hawks played at a much higher pace than Mason, but I don’t think the change of pace will be much of a problem for him.
KenPom has O’Connor playing mostly the three for the River Hawks, but I would imagine that they would try to move him down to the two, since 6’4 at the three is pretty small in the A10, with most guys being 6’6 or 6’7. Since he did a lot of playmaking for UMass Lowell, the 2 makes a lot of sense.
I would expect your newest Patriot to be somewhere around Woody Newton and Austin Ball in the rotation. He’d be coming off the bench, but still playing a lot of minutes.
Brayden would be an awesome mentor to Bryson Cokley, as Cokley’s career trajectory could be an O’Connor type player cranked up to 11.
I could see the newest Patriot’s efficiency increasing, since it seems like he played at his conference’s equivalent of Fordham.
Welcome your newest George Mason Patriot, Mason Nation. The pieces are coming together.
