An outstanding season ended with a tough loss to Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament. The Double Bonus looks back at the finale.

Brogdon’s Consistency

Virginia sophomore Malcolm Brogdon finished the season with 17 points against Michigan State, which meant he hit double figures 29 times this season. That’s all but 8 games this season. He had 10 or more points in 23 of the last 24 games – he had 6 points against Florida State in the ACC Tournament in the only game where he didn’t reach the mark. That’s remarkably consistent, particularly for a player that missed all of the previous season while recovering from foot surgery.

Brogdon’s scoring consistency relied heavily on his ability to get to the free throw line where he shot 87.5% this season (126 of 144 free throws). That was true against the Spartans where Brogdon tallied 7 of his 17 points at the line. He made just 4 of 14 shot attempts in the game, a clip of 28.6%.

Unfortunately, that last number represented a late season trend for Brogdon. While he made 41.3% of his shots overall this season (150 of 363), he fell below that mark late in the year. In the 15 games after Feb. 1, Brogdon made 66 of 176 shots for a 37.5% clip. Since that point in the season, Brogdon posted just five games above 45% shooting and just six games above 40% shooting. That included three postseason games when he made 7 of 17 shots against Duke (41.1%), 5 of 11 shots against Pitt (45.5%), and 4 of 8 shots against Memphis (50%). In the six postseason games overall, Brogdon hit 24 of 68 shots or 35.3% of his attempts.

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