Virginia is better, a lot better, when Malcolm Brogdon is a little selfish. He wouldn’t want to admit that, but it’s true, and while he doesn’t like talking about it, he’s playing like it, and it’s to the 12th-ranked Cavs’ benefit.
“Malcolm, he’s an aggressive player, I mean, he looks to score. Again, he was in such nice rhythm with his shot. He got us off to a good start offensively, because we were having a hard time stopping them,” UVA coach Tony Bennett told reporters after his team’s 80-54 win over Lehigh Wednesday, in which Brogdon scored a game-high 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field.
The senior, the preseason ACC co-player of the year, had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the first half, which played a little tighter than Virginia fans expected coming in.
It was just 35-28 at the break, and that was after a 12-4 UVA run erased a late deficit to close out the first half.
Brogdon’s big half kept the Cavs in pole position early, and his solid second half helped salt the game away.
For Brogdon, it was his third 20+ point effort in six games in the 2015-2016 season. He had four such games total in 2014-2015, for comparison.
It’s early, but Brogdon is averaging a career-high 16.7 points per game on a career-best 47.5 percent shooting so far this season.
And actually, listening to him postgame, he does sound like he’s warming up to the idea that he needs to be a little more selfish.
“I just tried to come out and be aggressive. I’m one of the better scorers on the team, and if I’m not aggressive I feel like I’m doing the team a disservice. So, whether that is scoring or whether that is making aggressive plays to get people open, it’s my duty to be aggressive at the very start of the game,” Brogdon said.
– Story by Chris Graham
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