City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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It was expected coming into the season that junior point guard Josh Brown would take a sizeable step up in production as he moved into the starting role.

Coming off a sophomore season where he averaged 6.3 ppg and 3.1 rpg in 21.9 mpg, the 6-foot-3, 185-pound New Jersey native looked primed to become one of the Owls’ primary options in 2015-16.

And certainly enough, he’s improved his numbers across the board--everything except for scoring.

His effort against Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday in a 79-70 Temple win was a perfect example: only six points on five shots (two makes) in 30 minutes, but six rebounds, four blocks and seven assists against just two turnovers.

The assists and blocks were career highs for the St. Anthony grad.

“Never know any given game what’s going to happen,” he said. “I don’t play for the stats, just play as hard as I can, set my teammates up, just do anything to help us win.”

After six games, Brown is averaging 6.3 ppg, 4.6 apg and 4.0 rpg, not to mention just a single turnover per outing. Coming into the FDU game, he was 16th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, and once the night’s games are over he’s not likely to be lower than 30th.

“I think Josh is giving (us) pretty solid play, and his assists-to-turns are terrific at this point,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said after the FDU win, which evened Temple’s record at 3-3. “I think he’s got to look (his shot) a little bit more, he can be a little more aggressive taking the ball to the basket as well but he’s got to make good decisions when he does.”

What helps set Brown apart is his consistent effort whether he’s scoring or not; some players tend to go through dry spells offensively and defensively when their shot isn’t falling, but that hasn’t been a concern.

Instead of making big shots, he's setting them up--like his lob to Quenton DeCosey for a huge dunk that helped spur the Owls onto their game-clinching run.

Brown knows that when it comes to his mindset, there’s only one option.

“Just find a way to help the team win, that’s it, whatever it is--diving on loose balls, rebounding, passing, getting people open, being vocal, being a leader,” he said. “Whatever it takes, when you’re on the floor you’re going to do something to help the team win. Scoring, that could be great, but anything else.”

Last year, Brown showed he can be an efficient shooter, making 39.8 percent of his field goal attempts and 37.5 percent from beyond the arc (21-of-56). This year, he’s shooting 31.7 percent overall and 30.4 percent from beyond the arc, numbers which certainly haven’t made him a more willing shooter.

“I think it’s going to come sooner than later, I’m not worried about that,” Brown said about his scoring totals. “As long as we get wins and I’m taking good shots, that’s it.”

Part of the reason for Brown's lack of scoring is that he hasn't been needed as much to contribute in the points column. DeCosey, a senior wing, leads the team at 15.5 ppg, while senior forward Jaylen Bond is contributing 11.2 ppg and sophomore forward Obi Enechionyia 11.0 ppg.

And the freshmen, like Trey Lowe (7.0 ppg) and Levan Alston Jr. (6.3 ppg) have been making shots off the bench. As long as that continues, the Owls should be in good shape moving forward.

“The freshmen can score, Obi's been stepping up scoring, Jaylen’s been hitting his shots and being dominant down low, Q’s going to do what he does, Devin (Coleman’s) going to hit shots, Dan (Dingle’s) doing a lot of things," Brown said. "So I don’t really need to score as much but I think I should be more aggressive in that sort so that more shots are going to open up for them.”

If he does, a Temple attack averaging 82.5 ppg could become even more dangerous--and that could be a real problem for the rest of the American Athletic Conference.