West Virginia’s Brenen Lorient Elaborates on Showcasing Shooting Ability

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – WVU basketball senior forward Brenen Lorient had his moment in the spotlight in WVU’s 69-47 win over Lehigh Sunday with a career-high 26 points with seven rebounds and three steals.

In the postgame press conference, Lorient offered praise to his teammates and coaching staff.

“My teammates, they helped me out a lot tonight. Coach called some really good sets. And it was just a blessing to be able to make those shots I did today,”

Lorient’s performance featured three made three-pointers, a career high. He added he made an effort to improve his three-point shot this past offseason in an effort to become more of an “NBA-type” player.

While he didn’t have opportunities to showcase his shooting in the team’s first two games, Lorient found space outside of the three-point line Sunday.

“This past summer, I signed with an agency. I got to be able to see what NBA-type players look like and stuff like that. So I’ve been really trying to work on that,” Lorient said. The first two games, I didn’t get that many opportunities to be out on the wing, stretching the floor because of foul trouble, stuff like that. But today, they were able to find me on the outside.”

After having no shots from three-point range until the game against Lehigh, Lorient knocked down his very first three-point attempt of the season which helped boost his confidence.

“If anybody makes their first shot, they’re gonna start feeling good afterwards,” Lorient said. “But like I said, I’ve- we’ve been working on it, the coaches, the managers, so I just wanted to go out there and not think about it.”

This is Lorient’s second year with head coach Ross Hodge, following him from North Texas. Hodge commented on Lorient’s shooting development, as he only shot 23 threes and made 11 last season.

“He shot a very high percentage last year on low volume. And we’ve been talking a little bit about trying to increase his volume from there,” Hodge said. “But he’s just s a very unselfish player and he doesn’t force. And the game kinda opened up for him in that regard today. And when he’s making those, it just increases the space for everybody else.”

Last season at North Texas, Lorient averaged 11.7 points per game, and his 421 total points were the second most among backup players in the nation. He added 4.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

WVU basketball will take the court again at 6 p.m. Thursday when it hosts Pitt for the Backyard Brawl at the Hope Coliseum.

Find more coverage of WVU basketball at WV Sports Now.