Three games into the season for the Virginia men’s basketball season and one trend has caught everyone’s eye. The main reaction: can Justin Anderson keep that up?

Yes, three games into the season, Anderson has been torching opponents. He leads the team in scoring at 15.3 points per game, but that’s only part of the story. So far, Anderson is shooting 48.1% (13 of 27), including 62.5% (10 of 16) from three-point range. He’s also made 76.9% of his free throws (10 of 13). All of those numbers are up from his first two seasons at UVa. As a sophomore, he made 40.7% (96 of 236) overall, 29.4% (30 of 102) on three-pointers, and 71.6% (68 of 95) on free throws. As a freshman, he made 42% (89 of 212) overall, 30.3% (20 of 66) on three-pointers, and 76.4% (68 of 89) on free throws.

Anderson’s form has undergone a makeover. In the upper body, the ball stays more in the shot pocket and up by his hear vs. winding up a little bit behind his head. Anderson references this as keeping the shot tighter. In the lower body, he is consistently getting his feet set and then taking a more of a ‘phone booth’ up-and-down jumper vs. drifting forward (or elsewhere) heavily with the shot. Anderson has alluded to better balance in interviews and this is where you’re seeing that piece of the puzzle.

“It’s not too much different. It’s just repetitions. There’s little tweaks here and there, keeping the ball tight and everything. It’s one of those things. I don’t like speaking on it because it’s just the work that I put in in the offseason and I just hope it continues to get results,” Anderson said.

...