HPU’s John Brown Named Lou Henson Preseason All-America

HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point University forward John Brown has been named to the 2016 Lou Henson Award Watch List, earning the redshirt-senior preseason mid-major All-America honors for the second-straight campaign.

The Jacksonville, Fla., native garnered 2015 Lute Olson All-America accolades last season and was named one of 31 finalists for the 2015 Henson Award. The honor is given annually to the nation’s top mid-major player.

The preseason honors continue to roll in for Brown, who also is the preseason Big South Player of the Year for the third-straight campaign. Brown is the only mid-major player on the Julius Erving Award Watch List, an accolade given annually to the best small forward in the nation. In addition, he garnered Mid Major All-America honors from NBCSports.com and was named to the preseason all-mid major team by CollegeSportsMadness.com. He is ranked as the No. 64 player in the nation in the CBSSports.com “Top 100” player rankings.

Brown enters the 2015-16 season as the nation’s No. 3 returning scorer (1,680 career points) and the NCAA Div. I active leader in field goals made (646). He is just one of two returning players nationally to have posted 1,500 points and 600 rebounds in a career.

A 2014 AP All-America selection and the 2014 Big South Player of the Year, Brown was named to the NABC All-District Team in 2015 for the second-straight season – one of just 22 players nationally to accomplish the feat.

Brown proved to be one of the most consistent scorers in the nation in 2014-15. The Jacksonville, Fla., native posted at least 10 points in 30-33 games and at least 20 points in 15 contests. He ranked ninth in the country in field goals made (242) in 2014-15 and was 26th nationally in scoring (19.3 ppg) and 32nd in field goal percentage (.550).

He is one of just four Big South players all time to have posted 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, 100 blocks, 100 steals and 100 assists in a career.

The Lou Henson Award is named in honor of a legendary coach who retired after a spectacular coaching career that lasted 41 years. When he left the game in 2005 Henson 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.

2015-16 LOU HENSON PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAM

DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell 6-5 Sr. Illinois State
Paris Bass 6-8 So. Detroit
Craig Bradshaw 6-3 Sr. Belmont
Martin Breunig 6-8 Sr. Montana
John Brown 6-8 Sr. High Point
Jared Brownridge 6-3 Jr. Santa Clara
Stephen Croone 6-0 Sr. Furman
Stacy Davis 6-6 Sr. Pepperdine
Obi Emegano 6-3 Jr. Oral Roberts
Chris Fowler 6-1 Sr. Central Michigan
Juan’ya Green 6-2 Sr. Hofstra
Jimmy Hall 6-8 Jr. Kent State
Peter Hooley 6-4 Sr. Albany
Casey Jones 6-5 Sr. Chattanooga
Tim Kempton Jr. 6-10 Jr. Lehigh
Raven Lee 6-3 Jr. Eastern Michigan
Maodo Lo 6-3 Sr. Columbia
Shawn Long 6-9 Sr. UL-Lafayette
Egidijus Mockevicius 6-10 Sr. Evansville
Dallas Moore 6-1 Jr. North Florida
Mamadou Ndiaye 7-6 Jr. UC Irvine
Alec Peters 6-9 Jr. Valparaiso
Justin Sears 6-8 Sr. Yale
Jeff Short 6-4 Sr, Norfolk State
Thomas Walkup 6-4 Sr. Stephen. F. Austin
Jameel Warney 6-8 Sr. Stony Brook
Jalan West 5-11 Sr. Northwestern State
Josh Williams 6-5 Jr. Lipscomb
Zeek Woodley 6-2 Jr. Northwestern State
Kris Yanku 6-4 Jr. Northern Arizona

NOTE: Ron Baker (Wichita State), D.J. Balentine, (Evansville), Kyle Collinsworth (BYU), AJ English (Iona), Kahlil Felder (Oakland), Fred VanVleet (Wichita State) and Kyle Wiltjer (Gonzaga) were named to the Lute Olson Preseason Watch List.

About the Panthers: The High Point University men’s basketball team is coming off a record-breaking 2014-15 season that saw the Panthers set new Div. I program records for wins (23), Big South wins (13), road wins (9) and Big South road wins (6). HPU advanced to the postseason for the third-straight year and earned its first ever postseason win with a victory over UMES in the CIT. HPU is the winningest Big South program over the past three years and is one of just six schools nationally to have won a regular season conference title in each of the past three campaigns (Gonzaga, Kansas, Stephen F. Austin, Davidson, Harvard).