March Madness heroics for Iowa State nets Derby’s Addy Brown free wings with NIL deal

Growing up in Derby, Addy Brown’s go-to spot after basketball games was always the Buffalo Wild Wings on Rock Road.

Next time the freshman sensation on the Iowa State women’s basketball team is back home, she will be eating for free from her favorite restaurant.

After Brown’s recent heroics in what has been called the best women’s game of March Madness so far, Buffalo Wild Wings signed Brown to an NIL deal that gives her free wings for the next year.

“All of my friends have been asking me if I could get them free wings now,” Brown said with a laugh. “Everyone is asking when I’m going to be coming home next.”

Brown is no stranger to profiting off her name, image and likeness, as the women’s basketball players for the Cyclones work closely with the We Will Collective on deals in the Ames area. The deal with Buffalo Wild Wings was the first deal with a national brand any player has signed on the team.

Brown played a superb floor game for No. 7 seed Iowa State in a second-round NCAA tournament game at No. 2 seed Stanford, scoring 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including four 3-pointers, to go along with five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

But it was her game-tying layup in the final 90 seconds of regulation, which forced overtime in an eventual 87-81 loss to the Cardinal this past Sunday, that earned her the deal with BWW.

The national chain runs a promotion each March that allows fans who are already at the restaurant when an NCAA tournament game goes to overtime to eat six free wings. Because her basket triggered “Overtime Wingtime,” Brown was offered the NIL deal through Iowa State’s collective.

Less than 48 hours after turning heads in front of a national-television audience, Brown was taking a promotional picture with free food, a shirt and a hat sent over by Buffalo Wild Wings to post on social media.

“It’s still so crazy to me,” Brown said. “I’m still not sure how exactly it works, but I’m hoping I can take some of my teammates and get some free wings now.”

Brown wasn’t the only Kansas native who stole the spotlight in the NCAA tournament game, as Claflin native Emily Ryan poured in a career-high 36 points with nine rebounds and four assists against Stanford. Brown and Ryan, two former Kansas Gatorade Players of the Year, scored 25 of the team’s final 29 points.

It was a surreal experience for Brown, who just last year was playing in mostly-empty gyms in Salina, Haysville, Maize and Newton.

On Sunday, she was going shot-for-shot against one of the best teams in the country coached by Tara VanDerveer, the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history, in a rabid road environment and against future WNBA stars like Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen. Not to mention, doing it all on the game’s biggest stage in the postseason.

“That is 100% one of those games that I’ll always remember,” Brown said. “You dream about playing in games like that when you’re a kid. I think in the moment, you’re just so locked in to trying to win, you don’t really realize it. And then afterward, your phone is blowing up and you’re seeing all of these people talk about how it was the best game they’ve seen in a long time. It was just a really cool experience.”

With the majority of the roster eligible to return, Brown said the experience of pushing a title contender to the brink only provides motivation for next season at Iowa State.

They want their own surreal moment at home.

“We want to bring a team into our packed gym and move on to the Sweet 16,” Brown said. “That’s the goal now.”