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Pro Hoos: Murphy III, Brogdon, Harris, and Huff Shine in the NBA
It's the final week of the NBA regular season and alums from the Virginia men's basketball program have saved their best basketball for the most important time of the year.
Trey Murphy III delivered an incredible 30-point performance to lead the Pelicans to a comeback win over the Grizzlies. Malcolm Brogdon dropped 29 points off the bench to help the Celtics clinch the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Joe Harris caught fire and knocked down six three-pointers in just the first quarter for the Nets and Jay Huff recorded his second double-digit performance in as many nights with 14 points for the Wizards.
Read more on each of these standout performances from former Virginia men's basketball stars below:
Trey Murphy III
The New Orleans Pelicans are in the midst of a heated playoff race in the Western Conference, making Wednesday night's matchup against the No. 2 seed Memphis Grizzlies a critical one with just a few days left in the regular season. The Grizzlies led the Pelicans by as many as 19 points and led by five entering the fourth quarter. Trey Murphy III had only nine points through the first three quarters, but exploded in crunch time to keep the Pelicans in the game and eventually powered them to a 138-131 overtime victory. The former Wahoo sharpshooter scored 15 points in the fourth quarter alone and then knocked down back-to-back threes in overtime to put the Pelicans up by six, sparking a run that allowed New Orleans to take over the game for good.
In 46 minutes of action, Trey Murphy III finished with 30 points, 21 of which came in the fourth quarter and overtime, on 9/18 shooting and seven three-pointers. He also tallied four assists, three steals, and two rebounds. Trey Murphy III, CJ McCollum and Herb Jones became the first trio in Pelicans franchise history to score 30 points apiece in a single game.
Malcolm Brogdon
Malcolm Brogdon continued to solidify his case for NBA Sixth Man of the Year with yet another outstanding performance off the bench. The former All-American and ACC Player of the Year at Virginia had a game-high 29 points, five rebounds, and three assists to lead the Boston Celtics to a 97-93 victory over the Toronto Raptors. Brogdon is averaging 18.8 points per game over his last six games for the Celtics, who clinched the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs with the win. If Brogdon does end up winning NBA Sixth Man of the Year, he would be the first UVA alum to win the award and only the second player in NBA history to win both the Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year awards.
Brogdon's teammate and fellow former Wahoo Sam Hauser got the start for the Celtics and scored just three points, but he contributed in many other ways, tallying six rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block and had a great hustle play, diving on the floor for a loose ball before dishing to Jaylen Brown for a dunk.
Joe Harris
If you looked at the box score from only the second, third, and fourth quarters of the game, you'd think Joe Harris didn't even play. But in the first quarter, Joe Harris lit up the scoreboard with six three-pointers, finishing with 18 points to help the Brooklyn Nets defeat the Detroit Pistons 123-108.
Jay Huff
The last 48 hours have been a whirlwind for Jay Huff, who was named the G League Defensive Player of the Year on Tuesday and had his first opportunity to play extended minutes in an NBA game that night. Huff scored 17 points on 5/10 shooting from the floor and 3/6 from three to go along with nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals in 27 minutes of action for the Washington Wizards in their loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. The next night, Huff got even more playing time with 30 minutes and had another impactful performance with 14 points on 5/6 shooting, including 2/3 from three-point range, four rebounds, three assists, three blocks, and a steal in Washington's loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
Huff signed a two-way contract with the Wizards back on March 1st, but spent most of the last month with the Capital City Go-Go in the G League. With the G League season over, Huff is back with the Wizards for the remainder of the NBA regular season and he is making the most of the opportunity. Washington's season will be over on Sunday, but Jay Huff has already proven in just two games that he belongs in the NBA.
What a night for former Virginia men's basketball players in the NBA.
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