HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point University men’s basketball redshirt-senior forward John Brown has re-written the record books yet again, becoming the first player ever to be named both Big South Player of the Year and Big South Defensive Player of the Year in the same season.
Brown earned both accolades, as announced by the league office on Tuesday. He also becomes just the second player in league history to be named to the All-Big South First Team in four-straight seasons. He is the second HPU student-athlete to earn two Big South Player of the Year honors in a career, joining former Panther great Arizona Reid (2006-07, 2007-08). Brown also was named Big South Player of the Year in 2014.
Brown is the second HPU player to earn Defensive Player of the Year accolades, joining Issa Konare (2005-06).
In addition to Brown’s High Point hardware, senior Adam Weary also has been named to the All-Big South Second Team, marking the first all-conference honor of the Memphis, Tenn., product’s career.
It’s the first time HPU has claimed a pair of all-conference honors (first team and/or second team) since 2012-13, when Brown earned first team accolades and Allan Chaney was a second team selection.
Sophomore guard Austin White was named to the 2016 Big South All-Academic Team for the first time in his career. White carries a 3.26 GPA and is majoring in business administration.
John Brown
One of the most well-rounded players in the nation, Brown leads the country in player efficiency rating, one of the most beneficial statistics to measure a player’s value to his team. In addition, he is third in the country in offensive efficiency and ranks in the top-40 in field goals made (13th), field goal percentage (21st) and scoring (36th). He is the nation’s No. 3 career scorer (2,229 points) and leads all players nationally in field goals made (858).
Brown ranked in the top-6 of the Big South in field goal percentage (1st, .606), offensive rebounds (2nd, 3.2 orpg), scoring (3rd, 19.6 ppg), blocks (4th, 1.8 bpg), steals (5th, 1.7 spg) and rebounding (6th, 7.1 rpg). On the defensive end of the floor, Brown led the conference in combined blocks/steals (97) by 18 over the next closest player and was the only player in the Big South to rank in the top-100 nationally in block percentage and steal percentage.
A preseason candidate for the Julius Erving Award and a mid-season finalist for the Lou Henson Award, Brown posted 10 points in 27-of-28 games and 20+ 12 games. A two-time Big South Player of the Week selection, Brown leads the nation in Ken Pomeroy MVPs, a stat given to the top player in each college basketball game all season long.
Adam Weary
Weary has put together an outstanding senior campaign in which he ranked 12th in the conference in scoring (14.1 ppg) in league play as well as seventh in field goal percentage (.523) and ninth in free throw percentage (.757). He posted 10+ points in HPU’s final nine league games, including 20+ in three of the last four.
Weary ranked sixth in the conference in assists per game (3.2) and was third in the league in assist/turnover ratio (2.1). He ranks fifth all-time at HPU in career assists (296) and is 23rd in scoring (1,258 career points).
The Panthers open the 2016 Big South Championship Friday with a contest vs. the winner of the first round game between No. 8 Longwood/No. 9 Charleston Southern. Tip time in noon in Buies Creek, N.C.