Milwaukee Bucks: Get to know second round pick Sterling Brown

A Sterling effort at SMU

As a freshman, Sterling started 26 of the team’s 37 games, but did not produce an incredible amount. He averaged merely 4.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, despite playing nearly 20 minutes in each contest. He did, however, show potential promise as a shooter (36.2% from three on 1.3 attempts per game), but his dreadful 24-42 (57.1%) from the free throw showed his weaknesses as well.

During his sophomore season, his starts went down to just 50% of the team’s games (17 out of 34). He did increase his statistics across the board, though. His minutes jumped up by almost five per game and he rounded out the season with 5.2 points and 4.6 rebounds.

That next season, though, is when he had a breakout year, showing the potential people saw as a high school player. Even though the Mustangs were banned from the postseason, Sterling started 29 of SMU’s 30 games and averaged double digits (10.1 points) scoring production for the first time. Most impressively, he shot 60.2% from the field, which included 53.6% from three on 1.9 attempts per game.

It was in his senior year that he increased his volume shooting from three-point land. He was already a solid 67-148 (45.3%) combined from three in his first three collegiate seasons, but he showed the ability to knock down threes in volume as a senior. Attempting 136 on the season, he splashed home 61, which was good enough for a scorching 44.9% from three. On the whole he averaged 13.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game while getting his free throw percentage to around 80%.