Around this time last season, Virginia’s Justin Anderson put together a strong postseason run as the Cavaliers won three games in the National Invitational Tournament. Just a freshman at the time, that helped UVa make a run to the quarterfinals of that event.

Anderson made 14 of 30 shots (46.7%) and 6 of 11 3-pointers (54.5%) in the tourney. He also ripped off 23 of 27 free throws (85.2%), which helped him average 19.0 points per game in the three-game run. As he often does, he also had some highlight plays defensively with 9 blocked shots in the NIT.

Interestingly, that came on the heels of a five-game stretch where Anderson didn’t put up many numbers. In fact, he scored just 20 points in the five games before the NIT and then averaged that number in the tourney. He made 8 of 20 shots (40%), 2 of 10 3-pointers (20%), and 2 of 6 free throws (33.3%) in those five games.

Does the fan favorite have another big postseason run in store this time around as the Cavaliers enter NCAA Tournament play as a No. 1 seed? If so, it will come on the heels of a similar late-season scoring slump. In the last five of the last six games, Anderson made 5 of 19 shots (26.3%), 2 of 11 3-pointers (18.2%), and 4 of 4 free throws (100%) for a total of 16 points (3.2 points). The one game where Anderson found his scoring touch came against Syracuse when he made 3 of 5 shots (60%), 3 of 4 3-pointers (75%), and 2 of 2 free throws (100%) for 11 points.

...