I mean, this is a pretty big difference. If Rodney was shooting 43% overall and 36% from 3, there'd still be some complaints but it wouldn't be like what we've heard this year (lots of which has been warranted).
Even with yesterday's good showing he's shooting 34% from the year. If he was a freshman or even a sophomore we'd live with it, but as a 5th-year senior it's beyond perplexing.
Of course it's the difference, most salient by far. But somehow people imply or even flat out state that he played differently this game from others. They state that he's lackadaisical, doesn't play within himself etc. His defense hasn't changed (overall best defender game in and game out on the team) his exhaustive constant running in KO's offensive schemes are the same, he's taking the same type of shots and so on.
He's a below average passer that never would have been asked to do that aspect of the game if Alterique didn't get hurt. That's circumstances and not on Rodney or KO. And his assist to TO ratio is still better than 1 which is second best on the team. You would never have guessed that with people screaming about his mistakes.
Ever since his first year at UConn when he went down hard on that attempted dunk and sprained his ankle he's been more cautious with his dunk attempts. That hasn't helped him, but I can understand why he does this even if I wished he didn't.
The shooting is not beyond perplexing. Pros go through seasons with just as extreme deviations to their skill sets as Rodney has gone through. He was a .435% fg shooter the prior three seasons. This season he's .340 % fg shooter. 3p% went from average of .372% to .278%, He was never an outstanding shooter but if he just shot his averages this season might have had a different outcome. Lost in all those who can't find a way to complement a player who they want to hate is his FT% is significantly improved. It's best on the team. If they can make a run in the tournament Rodney, Christian, Kentan and Jalen have decent FT% to be the difference in that run.
With the influx of so many new pieces we needed Rodney to not have a bad season right from the beginning. That became even more critical with the injuries. In the best seasons other players would step up when one of the players would go through a slump. This season did not afford that luxury. So Rodney's performance gets magnified.