Provo • BYU basketball coach Dave Rose has made some midseason changes to his roster after finishing nonconference play with an 11-2 record.
The Cougars added 6-foot-9 freshman forward Kolby Lee and announced that 6-5 junior guard Kajon Brown is leaving the program.
Lee graduated from Rocky Mountain High in Meridian, Idaho, last spring and originally planned to go on an LDS Church mission when he signed with BYU in November of 2016. However, he has enrolled in school and will be eligible when the Cougars play host to Portland on Thursday in the Marriott Center.
Lee’s presence is needed because the Cougars are without three injured big men: Braiden Shaw, Ryan Andrus and Dalton Nixon. Rose said Shaw, who has been out with an ankle injury, is close to returning.
Lee averaged 16.6 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots per game his senior year and led his team to a 26-1 record and the school’s first state title. He was the 2017 Idaho Gatorade Player of the Year. He averaged 14.8 points and 8.9 rebounds as a junior.
Brown, who already has played for three schools since he graduated from Helen Cox High in Harvey, La., said on Twitter on Tuesday morning that he was transferring from BYU “because of family and personal reasons.”
Brown played in only one of BYU’s last four games and only appeared in nine of the team’s 13 games. He scored just seven points and had one assist and two steals. His finest moment came against Utah Valley, when he converted a three-point play just before halftime.
Brown spent his freshman season at Tulsa in 2015-16 and his sophomore season at Lee Community College in Baytown, Texas. He averaged 8.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game at Lee.
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