MANHATTAN, Kan. – Senior guard Barry Brown, Jr., has been named one of 20 watch list members for the 2019 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award, as announced by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame today (October 16).
Named for basketball icon, Jerry West, the 1959 NCAA Final Four MVP and 1980 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, the annual award is in its fifth year and recognizes the top shooting guards in Division I men’s basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.
Brown was one of three Big 12 players named to the watch list, including Kansas freshman Quentin Grimes and Texas Tech sophomore Jarrett Culver. Other candidates include Auburn’s Bryce Brown, Cincinnati’s Jarron Cumberland, Davidson’s Kellen Grady, Duke’s R.J. Barrett, Florida’s KeVaughn Allen, Gonzaga’s Zach Norvell, Hofstra’s Justin Wright-Foreman, Indiana’s Romeo Langford, Kentucky’s Tyler Herro, Mississippi State’s Quinndary Weatherspoon, Nebraska’s James Palmer, Jr., Notre Dame’s T.J. Gibbs, St. John’s Mustapha Heron, Syracuse’s Tyus Battle, Virginia’s Kyle Guy, Washington’s Jaylen Nowell and Wofford’s Fletcher Magee.
A 6-foot-3, 195-pound three-year lettermen from St. Petersburg, Florida, Brown enters his senior season in 2018-19, ranking 12th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,283 points having seen action in all 105 career games at K-State with 83 consecutive starts. He also ranks third all-time in steals with 189, just 22 shy of breaking Jacob Pullen’s career mark of 210 set from 2007-11, as well as in the career Top 10 for field goals attempted (1,094),
3-point field goals attempted (401) and minutes played (3,283).
An All-Big 12 Second Team selection and a member of the Big 12’s All-Defensive Team, Brown enjoyed a career-best season as a junior in 2017-18, averaging 15.9 points on 44.8 percent shooting (203-of-453), including 31.8 percent (42-of-132) from 3-point range, to go with 3.2 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 34.7 minutes per game. The team leader in double-digit scoring games (29), 20-point games (11), assists (120) and steals (67), he became the first Wildcat to post 500 points, 100 rebounds, 100 assists and 50 steals in a single season.
Brown became the fifth Wildcat to be named to one of the Big 12’s First, Second or Third Teams as well as the All-Defensive Team in the same season, joining Jacob Pullen (2010, 2011), Rodney McGruder (2012), Angel Rodriguez (2013) and Wesley Iwundu (2016). Overall, he is first All-Defensive Team member since Iwundu in 2016.
In helping K-State to its first Elite Eight since 2010, Brown was selected to NCAA South Regional All-Tournament after averaging 13.5 points and 3.0 rebounds in games against Kentucky and Loyola Chicago. Overall, he averaged a team-best 15.8 points per game in the Wildcats’ four NCAA Tournament games.
Brown finished among the Big 12 leaders in six categories, including scoring (eighth), assists (11th), free throw percentage (13th), steals (second), assist/turnover ratio (13th) and minutes (sixth). He also ranked among the conference’s Top 15 in six categories in league-only games, including scoring (fourth), assists (eighth), field goal percentage (15th), steals (second), assist/turnover ratio (11th) and minutes (sixth).
The West Award is part of the “Naismith Starting 5,” which represents the five positional awards (Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, Julius Erving Small Forward Award, Karl Malone Power Forward Award and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award) that serve as a tie between current game and the Naismith Hall of Fame.
By mid-February, the 20-member watch list for the West Award will be narrowed to just 10. In March, five finalists will be presented to Jerry West and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The winner will be presented at the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show presented by Wendy’s in Los Angeles on April 12, 2019.
Previous winners of the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award include Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell (2015), Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield (2016), Kentucky’s Malik Monk (2017) and Purdue’s Carsen Edwards (2018).
Brown is one of 10 returning lettermen, which includes all six players who registered starts, for a K-State team that won 25 games for just the sixth time in school history and advanced to the Elite Eight for the 12th occasion. He will be joined by fellow seniors Dean Wade (16.2 ppg.) and Kamau Stokes (9.0 ppg.), juniors Xavier Sneed (11.1 ppg.) and Makol Mawien (6.8 ppg.) and sophomores Cartier Diarra (7.1 ppg.).
Season tickets for the 2018-19 season are currently on sale with a variety of pricing options available, including the Big Game, Pick 5 and Holiday mini-plans as well as Wildcat 4 Packs and Bramlage Bundles. Fans can purchase tickets in a variety of ways, including toll free at (800) 221.CATS (2287), online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets and in-person at the Athletics Ticket Office located in Bramlage Coliseum.
For more information on the 2019 Jerry West Award, log onto www.hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophall on Twitter and Instagram.
–www.kstatesports.com–
TOM GILBERT
Director for Men’s Basketball Communications | K-State Athletics