HPU’s John Brown Named To Henson Award Mid-Season Watch List

HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point University redshirt-junior forward John Brown has been named to the mid-season watch list for the Lou Henson Award, an honor given annually to the top mid-major player in college basketball.

The 2015 recipient will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com Awards Banquet on April 3 in Indianapolis, site of the 2015 men’s NCAA Basketball Championship.

After being named to the preseason watch list for the Henson Award, Brown has certainly lived up to expectations en route to inclusion on the mid-season list. The Jacksonville, Fla., native is second in the Big South in scoring (19.0 ppg) this season and ranks in the top-35 nationally in scoring, field goal percentage (.552) and field goals made (128). He has led HPU in scoring in 15-of-17 games and has posted at least 20 points in seven games in 2014-15.

In addition to his offensive prowess, Brown also is second in the Big South in offensive rebounds per game (3.0), seventh in blocks (1.4 bpg), ninth in free throw percentage (.753) and 10th in steals (1.5 spg).

Brown and the Panthers are off to the program’s best start (14-4) in 21 years. HPU’s 5-1 start to Big South play is its best since 2006-07.

The pre-season Big South Player of the Year, Brown was named a Mid-Major Preseason All-American by ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman, NBCSports.com and Mid-Major Madness.

Brown earned AP All-America honors last season after putting together an outstanding redshirt sophomore campaign for the Panthers in 2013-14. He also took home Big South Player of the Year, NABC All-District first team and NCCSIA All-State accolades, while becoming the first player in Big South history to score 1,000 points before the end of his sophomore season.

He is one of just eight players in Big South history to post at least 1,300 points, 500 rebounds, 100 blocks and 100 steals in a career.

One of the most explosive and exciting players in all of college basketball, Brown has appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter Top Plays nine times since the start of the 2012-13 season.

Brown is one of 24 players to be named to both the pre-season and mid-season watch lists for the Henson Award in 2014-15.

The award is named in honor of Lou Henson who retired after a spectacular coaching career that lasted 41 years. When he left the game in 2005 he was sixth all-time in career Division I wins with 779. He is the winningest coach at both Illinois and New Mexico State. He is one of only 12 coaches in the history of the game to take two schools to the Final Four.

Lou Henson Award Mid-Season Watch List
Lawrence Alexander, North Dakota State
D.J. Balentine, Evansville
John Brown, High Point University
Julius Brown, Toledo
Mike Caffey, Long Beach State
Karl Cochran, Wofford
Kyle Collinsworth, BYU
A.J. English, Iona
Kahlil Felder, Oakland
Juan’ya Green, Hofstra
Ty Greene, USC Upstate
Ryan Harrow, Georgia State
Tyler Harvey, Eastern Washington
Corey Hawkins, UC Davis
Jerome Hill, Gardner-Webb
David Laury, Iona
Denzel Livingston, Incarnate Word
Shawn Long, UL-Lafayette
Mikh McKinney, Sacramento State
Shonn Miller, Cornell
Justin Moss, Buffalo
Mike Myers, Maryland-Eastern Shore
Jordan Parks, North Carolina Central
Cameron Payne, Murray State
Rashawn Rembert, ETSU
Wesley Saunders, Harvard
Justin Sears, Yale
Jeff Short, Norfolk State
Keifer Sykes, Green Bay
Connor Tava, Western Michigan
Marcus Thornton, William & Mary
Seth Tuttle, Northern Iowa
Corey Walden, Eastern Kentucky
Brad Waldow, Saint Mary’s
Jameel Warney, Stony Brook
Jalan West, Northwestern State
Alan Williams, UC Santa Barbara
Kyle Wilson, Army
Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga
Zikiteran Woodley, Northwestern State