HPU’s John Brown Named Candidate For Lou Henson Award (Men’s Basketball)

HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point University men’s basketball redshirt-junior forward John Brown has been named a preseason candidate for the Lou Henson Award, CollegeInsider.com announced Wednesday.

The Lou Henson Award is presented annually to the Division I “Mid-Major” Player of the Year. The award is named in honor of 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.

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.

Brown already has been named a Mid-Major Preseason All-American by NBCSports.com and Mid-Major Madness, as well as the Big South Preseason Player of the Year as the Panthers head into the 2014-15 season.

Brown earned AP All-America honors 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. Brown led High Point with 19.5 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. He also averaged 1.9 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.5 steals per game and shot 54.5 percent from the floor and 74.5 percent from the free-throw line.

He became the first player in Big South history to score 1,000 points before the end of his sophomore season, scoring 27 points to surpass the milestone in HPU’s win over VMI on Feb. 26. Through two seasons, Brown has 1,063 points in 59 games, an average of 18.0 per game.

Henson Award Preseason Candidates
D.J. Balantine, Evansville
Joel Bolomboy, Weber State
Jarekious Bradley, Southeast Missouri
Craig Bradshaw, Belmont
David Brown, Western Michigan
John Brown, High Point University
Julius Brown, Toledo
Jared Brownridge, Santa Clara
Mike Cafey, Long Beach State
Karl Cochran, Wofford
Kyle Collinsworth, BYU
Tekele Cotton, Wichita State
Johnny Dee, San Diego
A.J. English, Iona
Ryan Harrow, Georgia State
Tyler Harvey, Eastern Washington
Corey Hawkins, UC Davis
R.J. Hunter, Georgia State
David Laury, Iona
Trey Lewis, Cleveland State
Shawn Long, UL Lafayette
Daniel Mullings, New Mexico State
Mamadou Ndiaye, UC Irvine
Maurice Ndour, Ohio University
Jacob Parker, Stephen F. Austin
Cameron Payne, Murray State
Rashawn Rembert, ETSU
Wasley Saunders, Harvard
Justin Sears, Yale
Keifer Sykes, Green Bay
Bernard Thompson, Florida Gulf Coast
Marcus Thornton, William & Mary
Matt Tiby, Milwaukee
Demetrius Treadwell, Akron
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

NOTE: Ron Baker (Wichita State), Tyler Haws (BYU), Kevin Pangos (Gonzaga) and Fred VanVleet (Wichita State) were named to the preseason Lute Olson All-America Team.

About the Panthers: High Point University men’s basketball is a rising Division I mid-major program and a member of the Big South Conference. Over the past two seasons, HPU has captured two Big South regular season titles, a Big South-leading 24 league victories and is the only conference program to earn a berth in back-to-back post-season tournaments. HPU also is one of just 44 programs nationwide to post a conference winning percentage of .750 or better over the past two campaigns.