UNC Basketball: Brandon Robinson season review

Brandon Robinson has had quite a career during his time at the University of North Carolina, which is usually a statement that is reserved for someone who excelled on the court. Granted, he indeed was a good player for the program, but it was more of the ride that he went on during his four years that is a story worth telling. He committed during the paper class scandal, won a national championship his freshman year, the NCAA ruled no punishment for the program, and from there Robinson found himself on two talented teams as well as one that had perhaps had the worst luck in college sports history. Unfortunately he was a victim of such an unfortunate fate himself many times, but that didn’t stop him from having a solid senior year.

Before we can even begin to discuss what Robinson was able to do on the court, we have to discuss the injuries that transpired first. During his 2019-20 campaign Robinson suffered multiple ankle/leg injuries, too many to really break down throughout the season, and also ended up getting into a car accident thanks to a drunk driver. To say that he likely never played the season healthy at any given point is probably one of the safest bets that you can make in 2020. Still, despite all of the injuries, Robinson continued to fight for the Tar Heels despite the fact that the season was looking doomed after the team’s terrible showing in the month of February. His toughness is likely to be the lasting memory of his senior year, and it’s not necessarily a bad way to be remembered.

As far as the product that we got on the court, Brandon Robinson had his moments of struggle much like everyone else on the team. His performance during the non-conference schedule wasn’t terrible, with his best performance being a 20-point outing against Yale at home. In the horrific game against Georgia Tech, Robinson was one of three players to score in double-digits, while the rest of the team had major issues getting the ball to go into the basket. His best game of the season was easily the game against Miami, when he went 11-16 from the floor and went 6-10 from three-point range. 3-Rob was a Super Saiyan being that faithful night, and it was perhaps one of the best performances we witnessed all season.

Still, with all of the good that we saw from Robinson, he was only mildly efficient in getting the job done. He finished the season having made 41.3% of his field goals, 36.9% of his three-pointers, and averaged 11.8 points per game. Considering how pretty much everything else went around him, it is really hard to chastise him for inefficiencies when he was easily one of the most important players on the team, and that was visible on multiple occasions when the Tar Heels had to find ways to win games without him. They weren’t successful very often, and unfortunately his injury woes can be put in the “what if” section of UNC’s turbulent 2019-20 campaign.

Brandon Robinson will always be remembered as the guy that was tough as nails, who was always one of the first to dive on the floor for a loose ball, and most importantly, the guy that we lovingly nicknamed 3-Rob due to his propensity to get hot from behind the arc. It’s likely that he’s not going to be one of the first names that is remembered on any of the teams that he was a part of during his time at UNC, but perhaps on this year’s team he very well should be. It’s hard to envision how much worse this season would’ve been without him, and we’re all going to miss everything that he brought to the team. Put your threes up one last time, 3-Rob has now left the building.