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

HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point University men’s basketball redshirt-senior forward John Brown has been named to the mid-season Lou Henson Award Watch List.

It marks the second-straight season that Brown has made the mid-season ledger for the award, given annually to the top mid-major player in the nation.

The recipient of the 2016 award will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com Award Presentation on April 1 in Houston, site of the men’s division I national championship.

The award is named in honor of Lou Henson who coached 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.

Brown is the nation’s No. 2 active scorer (1,964 career points) and leads all players nationally in career field goals made (751). The Jacksonville, Fla., native ranks fourth in the nation in offensive efficiency (according to Ken Pomeroy), behind only Buddy Hield (Oklahoma), Denzel Valentine (Michigan State) and Kahlil Felder (Oakland).

He also ranks in the top-50 nationally in 2015-16 in field goals made (105), free throws made (74), blocked shots (31), field goal percentage (.577) and scoring (18.9 ppg).

He paces the Panthers this season in scoring, rebounding (7.2 rpg), field goal percentage, blocks and steals (1.6 spg). Brown also is averaging a career-best 2.4 assists per game and shooting 71.2 percent from the free throw line.

A 2016 Lou Henson preseason All-America selection, Brown was named the preseason Big South Player of the Year for the third-straight campaign. He 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. 56 player in the nation by SB Nation and checks in at No. 64 in CBSSports.com’s “Top 100” player rankings.

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.

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 and will most likely end his career as one of just two players in league history with 2,000 points, 800 rebounds, 150 assists, 100 steals and 100 blocks. He is just 36 points away from the 2,000-point plateau.

Perhaps the most telling stat for Brown is his player efficiency rating, an advanced statistic developed by ESPN’s John Hollinger that shows the inherent value of a player to his team.

Since the stat has been kept for college players (2009-10), Brown has the second-best career PER of the more than 10,000 players that have competed in Div. I college basketball. Brown is second only to Kenneth Faried (Denver Nuggets/Morehead State) and ranks ahead of top-10 PER players Cody Zeller (Charlotte Hornets/Indiana), Jared Sullinger (Boston Celtics/Ohio State) and Doug McDermott (Chicago Bulls/Creighton).

2015-16 LOU HENSON MID-SEASON WATCH LIST
Paris Bass 6-8 So. Detroit
Anthony Beane 6-2 Sr. Southern Illinois
Joel Bolomboy 6-9 Sr. Weber State
Nathan Boothe 6-9 Sr. Toledo
Evans Bradds 6-7 Jr. Belmont
Josh Braun 6-4 So. Grand Canyon
Martin Breunig 6-8 Sr. Montana
John Brown 6-8 Sr. High Point University
Obi Emegano 6-3 Jr. Oral Roberts
A.J. English 6-4 Sr. Iona
Quincy Ford 6-8 Sr. Northeastern
Juan’ya Green 6-2 Sr. Hofstra
Kevin Hervey 6-8 Jr. UT Arlington
Peter Hooley 6-4 Sr. Albany
Casey Jones 6-5 Sr. Chattanooga
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
Deondre Parks 6-1 Sr. South Dakota State
Alec Peters 6-9 Jr. Valparaiso
Justin Robinson 5-8 Jr. Monmouth
Justin Sears 6-8 Sr. Yale
Pascal Siakam 6-9 So. New Mexico State
Rashawn Thomas 6-8 Jr. Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Matt Tiby 6-8 Sr. Milwaukee
Fred VanFleet 6-0 Sr. Wichita State
Thomas Walkup 6-4 Sr. Stephen. F. Austin
Jameel Warney 6-8 Sr. Stony Brook
Wes Washpun 6-1 Sr. Northern Iowa