Many American men who head overseas to play pro basketball after college are in for a culture shock, since several of them have never been to another country.
That has not been a problem for Virginia Beach native Tyson Brown, whose college career ended at Radford last March when the Highlanders lost to Presbyterian in the Big South Tournament in Johnson City, Tenn.
Brown, who did a post-graduate year in Woodstock at Massanutten Academy, had been to Italy, Greece and Germany on family trips before beginning his pro career a few weeks ago. Still, he has had his share of growing pains since joining his club in Slovakia in central Europe.
“It has been an adjustment period for me living overseas and being extremely far from home,” said Brown, after his club lost in an exhibition game near Budapest against a Hungarian club on Sept. 12. “It is a lot different not being in the country.”
“Other than that, it has been fun,” he added. “I have had a good time, honestly. I have to keep learning and keep adjusting. I think I can be very effective. I am excited to see where it takes me this year. I think is a good league” in Slovakia.
Valley ties
Brown played for four years at Kempsville, then averaged 13.7 points and 8.8 rebounds while at Massanutten. The coach at Massanutten is Curtis Peery, who is from Salem, played at Roanoke College under Paige Moir and is a former assistant under Frankie Allen at Maryland-Eastern Shore.
“I went from a Division III player to Division I graduate assistant. The grind is really what I fell in love with,” Peery said on a Prep Athletics podcast. “We drive vans, we do laundry” at the Woodstock school.
Another former Massanutten player, Kanye Clary, is also from Virginia Beach and is on the roster this season for Oklahoma State.
Brown appeared with Western Texas in 2021-2022 and then the following season with Florida Southwestern, which helped him land with Rhode Island of the Atlantic 10.
Brown played 32 games with 16 starts for the Rams in 2023-2024 and averaged 4.3 points and 4.1 boards per contest while leading URI in blocks with 23. That season, he played seven minutes off the bench at George Mason, had two points in 18 minutes as a starter at VCU and had six points in 12 minutes as a reserve at home against Richmond. URI lost all three games.
He then headed to Georgia Southern of the Sun Belt, where he set a school record for field goal percentage in a season at 63.4 percent while pacing the squad in rebounds at 6.8 per contest. At ODU that season, playing close to home, Brown had six points in a win and then on Feb. 22, 2025, he had three rebounds in a loss at JMU.
“Tyson’s experience, skill and toughness on both ends of the court make him a valuable asset to our program,” Radford head coach Zach Chu said on the school website when Brown headed to southwest Virginia.
Euro options
After averaging 27.7 minutes and 6.5 points per contest last season at Radford, Brown’s agency investigated possible gigs with clubs in the Czech Republic, Sweden, Greece and another club in Slovakia before he landed with the Wolves in Kosice – a city of about 230,000 in the east part of the country.
Just north of Hungary, Slovakia also shares a border with war-torn Ukraine, Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic.
“I think I had a pretty good second half. I should have had 20 points, but I finished with 15,” he said of a friendly with the Hungarian club. “I am in a good league in terms of moving up” to better countries in the future.
Brown is adjusting to a new style of play.
“It is a lot slower pace; it is a slower game,” he said, when comparing European leagues to the NCAA. “Overall, I feel it is not as athletic as what I am used to. But I think it is good for me as an athletic big and a mobile big. I am letting the game slow down and trying to let the game come to me.”
Off the court, the team in Slovakia provides him with an apartment and he shares a van with a teammate. Another American for his team in the exhibition in Hungary was Johnny Hughes III, 28, who is from Fayetteville, N.C., and has played in Argentina, Canada, Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg and Mexico since his college career ended in 2022 at the University of Incarnate Word.
“He has given me a lot of advice, honestly: keep my head down and keep working. I just like to play the game and stay out of the way,” said Brown, whose mother lives in Virginia Beach, and his father is in Baltimore. “The city is extremely nice. There is a lot do but I don’t do too much.”
In the exhibition game near Budapest, Brown was matched up at times with Phoenix-MT forward Devon Ellis – also a first-year pro from a Virginia college.
“I think I had a pretty good second half. I should have had 20 points, but I finished with 15,” Brown said. “I am in a good league in terms of moving up” to better countries in the future.
Ellis played last season at Norfolk State after earlier stops at Maryland-Eastern Shore and Valparaiso.
Former Radford players, per eurobasket.com, who played overseas last season include:
- Bryan Antoine, who was with famed Den Helder in the Netherlands.
- Edward Polite Jr., a guard who averaged about 15 points per contest with a club in Azerbaijan.
- Devin Hutchinson, a guard-forward who was in hoop-crazy Lithuania near the Baltic Sea.
- Lewis Djonkam, a 6-foot-9 post who was in Romania.
- Shaquin Jules, who averaged about 12 points and six boards with a club in Kosovo, in southeast Europe.
- Rashun Davis, who averaged about eight points per outing for Tauron GTK Gliwice in Poland.
- Josiah Jeffers, who tallied about 11 points and six rebounds for a team in Albania.
- DaQuan Smith, a point guard who played for a club in Russia.
- Jarvis Moss, who ended his Radford career in 2025, played last season in Szeged, Hungary and is with a team in Budapest this campaign.
- David Early, with the Highlanders in 2024-2025, used to be with the Wolves in Slovakia.
Radford begins this season at home on Oct. 29 against Ferrum. The only Virginia resident on the roster is junior guard Kolier Pruett, from Narrows and UVA Wise.
A new assistant coach with the Highlanders is Larry Mangino, a former assistant at Virginia and Liberty and the former head coach at Ferrum who also worked in the NBA.
His daughter, Chelsea, is on the staff at Liberty under head coach Ritchie McKay, while his other daughter, Grace, is the events coordinator for the city of Manassas Park.
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David Driver
