Jaylan Gainey is headed to Tallahassee. After three seasons with Brown, Gainey, one of the top defenders in the NCAA transfer portal will play for Florida State.
Shortly after Gainey entered the portal, his phone started to blow up; several ACC teams reached out to the 6-foot-9 center, including Boston College, Pitt, NC State, Duke Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Virginia. In the end, though, Leonard Hamilton won out.
Excited to announce my commitment to Florida State University! Appreciative to all my coaches, family and friends who helped me through this process! #newblood #seminoles pic.twitter.com/abMl7WC5bg
— Jaylan Gainey🏀 (@SlimJaylan) March 30, 2022
During his time at Brown, Gainey appeared in 65 games, including 42 starts. Gainey blocked 124 shots in those 65 games.
During the 2021-22 season, Gainey averaged 9.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game — both career-highs. He shot 70.3 percent from the floor, while leading Brown with 50 dunks. In total, Gainey shot 69.9 percent from the field over the first three seasons of his career
Gainey is a two-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year.
He’s from North Carolina, too. Gainey hails from Greensboro — the heart of the ACC footprint.
ver his final two seasons with Brown, Gainey recorded 86 dunks in 51 games.
Gainey’s defense, however, is what really differentiates him as an addition. Back in the 2019-20 season, Gainey finished 11th nationally with a block rate of 12.3 percent. That should fit nicely inside Florida State’s switch-heavy, chaos-inducing defense.
In conference play this season, Gainey led the Ivy League in effective shooting, 2P% and block rate. He also ranked inside the top five of the conference in offensive rebound rate, defensive rebound rate and offensive rating, according to KenPom.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ivy League didn’t play the 2020-21 season. When Gainey returned, though, he picked up where he left off. Gainey finished inside the top 25 nationally with a 10.7 percent block rate. When Brown almost upset UNC back in November, he blocked two shots, too
Now, Gainey will get to play for an elite ACC program and work with Hamilton and assistant coach Stan Jones, one of the top Big Men coaches in the country.