Burrell grad Brandon Coury finally getting his chance to contribute for Seton Hill men’s basketball team
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Stardom in high school doesn’t always translate instantly to college. Sometimes, players who were standouts in high school have to grind just to get playing time in college.
Such was the case for Burrell’s Brandon Coury. Coury was a Valley News Dispatch first-team all-star selection after his senior season, when he averaged nearly 22 points and led the Bucs to a berth in the PIAA Class 4A tournament.
Coury stayed local, opting to play basketball at Seton Hill. During his freshman season, he appeared in only nine games, for a grand total of 17 minutes. Then, the following season, he took a redshirt. So, heading into the 2024-25 season, Coury had almost no college game experience.
But Coury kept working, kept grinding. Now, he is getting his first real chance to contribute.
Through the Griffins’ first 16 games, Coury has appeared in 13, averaging 3.4 points in about 12 minutes per game. In a Nov. 23 game against Shippensburg, he scored a personal-best 10 points and had four steals while playing 28 minutes, also a personal best.
“It shocked me how much I played, to be honest,” Coury said. “But I think it helped me with my confidence. … That game and the Salem game.”
The Salem game Coury referred to occurred five days before the Shippensburg game. Coury played 13 minutes, scored two points, pulled down five rebounds and had a steal.
Modest numbers, to be sure. But to Coury, those two games proved to him that his work was paying off and that he could play at the Division II level.
“I think the biggest thing is his ability to put his head down and work every day,” said third-year Griffins coach Ben Wilkins. “Brandon is a special young man. How far he has come from his freshman year until now is unbelievable. He’s a kid that just works and is willing to use no excuses. He is worried about the team first.”
Speaking of worry, Seton Hill started the season with plenty of it. In the third game of the season, sophomore guard Dimitrios Sklavenitis went down with a fractured kneecap.
It was a big loss for the Griffins. As a freshman, the 6-foot-3 guard started 28 of the 29 games in which he appeared. He had the ball in his hands a lot, and Wilkins entrusted him with getting the offense circulating.
With Sklavenitis out, there was a domino effect in the lineup.
“He’s a dynamic player with the ball in his hands, and you lose him and our team has had to adjust,” Wilkins said. “It’s like a great quarterback. He makes everybody else’s job easier. … And defensively, he’s really good as well.”
Wilkins said Sklavenitis’ kneecap is healed, and, once he can get his conditioning back, he is expected to be back in the lineup. In the meantime, his absence has created opportunities for others. Freshman guard Gage Lattimore has been one of those players, and he has responded by averaging 11.6 points and 4.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists.
Coury has been another recipient of more minutes. Wilkins said he always thought Coury had the ability. With his length (6-foot-2), deceptive athleticism and understanding of the game, Coury had all the tools to succeed.
He was excellent at going to the basket — Wilkins called him “as good a finisher around the rim as anybody” on the roster — and could play sound defense.
Where he needed to make strides, Wilkins said, was how to be successful when the ball wasn’t coming his way.
“He wasn’t where he needed to be when he got here,” Wilkins said. “But he was willing to stay the course and work, and he has gotten better every year.
“One is his understanding of how to play without the basketball in his hands. It’s his spacing without the ball. And then within that is his decision of, do I shoot or do I drive? … Now he’s understanding when to shoot and when to drive and how to play without the ball in his hands.”
Added Coury: “I think it was just a lot of reps. In high school, we did a lot of sets, and the plays were mainly for me. And then you come up here to Division II, anyone can score, so I just had to learn on the fly.”
As Coury has rounded out his game, the minutes have come consistently.
Since his 28-minute outing against Shippensburg, he has played double-digit minutes in every game in which he has appeared.
On two other occasions, he played at least 20 minutes in a game.
But with Sklavenitis’ return imminent and other players, such as Lattimore, showing their mettle, Coury might have to scratch and claw for his minutes during the second half of the season. Then again, with Seton Hill scuffling in the PSAC — they entered Saturday’s game against Cal (Pa.) at 3-5 the conference — perhaps he has shown enough to get more minutes if Wilkins decides to shuffle his lineup.
Whatever the case, Coury is pleased with how he has progressed in his third year at the Greensburg campus. As for what the immediate future holds, he is more content to talk about the team than anything he might accomplish.
“I think we’re playing better every game,” he said. “We’re getting more comfortable with each other. … And once we get (Sklavenitis) back, that will just take it to another level.”