Purdue Fletcher Loyer Mt. Vernon senior Luke Ertel at College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships
Purdue senior Fletcher Loyer walked it off for his team with a half-court shot, then Mt. Vernon’s Luke Ertel, a Purdue commit, won the high school 3-point championship.
- DePaul senior CJ Gunn won the men’s 3-point shooting contest in his hometown of Indianapolis.
- The title-clinching shot appeared to be released after the buzzer, leading to boos from the crowd.
- Gunn, a former Indiana University player, was a late addition to the contest.
INDIANAPOLIS — CJ Gunn wasn’t sure why everyone was so worked up.
The DePaul senior — and proud Indianapolis native — had just won the men’s 3-point shooting contest at the College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships on Friday at Hinkle Fieldhouse. But upon further review, the title-clinching shot was still in his hand at the buzzer.
Boos rained down as the replay ran on the jumbotron and intensified when the feed switched to Gunn, who started his career at Indiana, sporting the champion’s gold chain as he stood by for his post-round interview.
“I’m from Indiana. I don’t know why everybody was booing me like that,” the 2022 Lawrence North graduate laughed afterwards.
That seemed a little harsh for the hometown kid, eh?
“Yeah, yeah. I like it that way, though, man.”
The less-than-welcoming reception to his 3-point title aside — to be clear, Gunn was having fun with it — the 6-foot-7 guard could not have asked for a much better way to close out his college career: Back in his hometown, just a few miles from Lawrence North High School where he was a record-setting Indiana All-Star and led the Wildcats to a Class 4A state runner-up finish in 2021.
Gunn was DePaul’s leading scorer in his two seasons and appeared in 54 games (44 starts) as a Blue Devil, averaging 13 points (832 total) on 41.4% shooting.
“This has been an amazing experience. It feels like just yesterday was my first year of college,” Gunn said.
“How much I’ve learned and the basketball player I became; all the lessons from transferring to being at IU my first year, it’s all just a blessing,” he continued. “I’m blessed to be here and to be able to be put in this position.”
Gunn was a late addition to this year’s 3-point contest. He got a late-night call from coach Chris Holtmann a couple nights ago telling him what he would be doing. Gunn said he was already planning to come home to visit family this weekend, so the timing worked out well, and he had a sizable supporter section with friends, family and all his coaches (past and present) in attendance.
“It’s a blessing to be able to come here and have the opportunity to pick up a basketball back in my hometown and put on a show for the crowd,” Gunn smiled. “And also to get to know these guys who are here with me tonight. Man, it’s just been an amazing opportunity.”
As for the event itself, Gunn was a bit slow out of the gates, but made it through to the second round when he caught fire, eventually shooting his way into the championship round.
“That first round, I was a little nervous,” Gunn said. “That’s why I didn’t shoot it that well. But that first round motivated me to do better.”
Coincidentally, Gunn lost to Kansas’ Elle Evans in the overall championship round on a buzzer beater.
Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.
