UVA’s Malcolm Brogdon Earns Historic Sweep of Top ACC Honors

By Erich Bacher, Bacher@Virginia.edu

March 7, 2016

Malcolm Brogdon celebrating with basketball team

Malcolm Brogdon averaged nearly 20 points per game in ACC play, while frequently being tasked with shutting down the opponents’ best player.

University of Virginia fifth-year guard Malcolm Brogdon was named the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 2016 Player of the Year and its Defensive Player of the Year – the first player ever to earn both honors in the same season, the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association announced Sunday.

Brogdon is also the first Cavalier to be named ACC Player of the Year since the legendary Ralph Sampson won the award three consecutive seasons from 1981 to ’83. Brogdon is the third Cavalier to earn ACC Player of the Year honors, joining Sampson and Barry Parkhill in 1972 (the latter of whom is now an associate director of athletics for development at UVA).

In addition, Brogdon was named to the All-ACC first team for the third consecutive season and ACC All-Defensive Team for the second straight season. Brogdon becomes the fourth Cavalier to earn three All-ACC first-team honors, joining Sampson (1981-83), Bryant Stith (1990-92) and Sean Singletary (2006-08).

(ESPN profile: Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon Honored to Live on ‘The Range’)

Senior forward Anthony Gill was named to the All-ACC third team for the second straight season, while junior guard London Perrantes earned All-ACC honorable mention honors.

All three won the same honors – Brogdon as Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-ACC; Gill as third-team All-ACC; and Perrantes as honorable mention All-ACC – in balloting by the league’s coaches, which was announced Monday.

The trio helped lead the Cavaliers to a 24-6 record and a second-place finish in the conference, behind the University of North Carolina – which they defeated, 79-74, on Feb. 27 in their only meeting of the season.

On Saturday, UVA completed a perfect 15-0 season in games played at John Paul Jones Arena by whipping the University of Louisville, 68-48 before a joyous sellout crowd.

Brogdon has averaged a career-high 18.4 points, and his 19.9 points per game in ACC play was the highest at UVA since 2007-08. He ranks fourth in the ACC in scoring and has scored 20 points or more in 15 games this season. Brogdon has led UVA in scoring 20 times in 30 games and has earned a pair of ACC Player of the Week honors. He ranks 12th in career scoring at UVA with 1,687 points.

Brogdon spearheads UVA’s third-ranked defense, which yields 59.6 points per game – among the best in the country. Last season, he shared co-Defensive Player of the Year honors from the ACC coaches with former UVA forward Darion Atkins.

Gill ranks second in the ACC in field goal shooting (55.6 percent), was 18th in rebounding (6.1 rebounds per game) and 23rd in scoring (13.6 points per game). Perrantes leads the ACC in 3-point shooting at 50.8 percent and is averaging a career-best 11.2 points.

Joining Brogdon on the All-ACC first team were Brice Johnson (University of North Carolina), Anthony “Cat” Barber (North Carolina State University), Grayson Allen (Duke University) and Jaron Blossomgame (Clemson University). Brogdon and Johnson were unanimous selections.

Michael Gbinije (Syracuse University), Sheldon McClellan (University of Miami), Demetrius Jackson (University of Notre Dame), Brandon Ingram (Duke) and Damion Lee (University of Louisville) were named to the All-ACC second team.

Marcus Georges-Hunt (Georgia Institute of Technology), Zach Auguste (Notre Dame), Michael Young (University of Pittsburgh) and Angel Rodriguez (Miami) joined Gill on the All-ACC third team.

No. 2 seed Virginia (24-6) will play either No. 7 seed Clemson (17-13) or No. 10 seed Georgia Tech (18-13) in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday. Tipoff at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., is set for 7 p.m.

All-ACC First Team