Are we a three point shooting team?

[jibsey]

3 for 19 tonight. Just brutal. Not official, but this would put us at 109th in the country for 3 point shooting. With the offensive system we run, 35% three point shooting isn't good enough. We need Mullins to take more two point shots. He's pretty deadly with those.

He’s been told by Hurley NOT to take 17 footers.

 

[blkknight1]

After the Marquette game we said no way they could shoot that poorly again. Well they shot that poorly again. Once is an aberration this is twice in a 4 game span.

One of the general problems is that a ton of these are not rhythm 3s they are just jacked up unnecessarily.

Run those curls into the mid range for solo and Braylin let them get in rhythm there let them see the ball go into the basket a few times. Show them tape of rip Hamilton tell them how he made a damn good living in the nba running off screens and hitting midrange jumpers.

 

[Blue Huskie]

"Are we a three point shooting team?"​

Sure we are, just not tonight.

 

[Mike Honcho]

"Are we a three point shooting team?"​

Sure we are, just not tonight.

At some point we have to call a spade a spade. Our "shooters" are not shooting the ball that well. Solo is a 31% chucker for the year. He had 5 seconds to square up a shot tonight and bricked it. 0-4 tonight. AK is as streaky as ever. He went 1-5 from three each of the last two games. Braylon is 6 for his last 24.

We're ~88th in the country at 35.7% (before tonight) and 156th in attempts (23.8). We were supposed to be an inside-out team, and while we've seen flashes of it (Tarris with 8 assists against Georgetown), it's been inconsistent at best, mostly because Tarris is the only + rebounder and low post threat (but also because we suck at feeding him in the post and he takes himself out of the game with stupid fouls, like his 2nd on Zuby when he should have conceded the bucket).

 

[RuffRuff]

I would say this - that our offense is fairly reliant on 3's as a primary way to get points against good competition. Our only other option is dump downs into Tarris. This is what I've meant about not having an identity this year - their offense really doesn't have one. What can they do in a must have basket situation other than a 3?

 

[FightOnCT]

Offense is designed to take efficient, valuable shots: 3 pointers and post ups. The problem is that while that is technically analytically sound, it is oversimplified. It leads to the team stalling when the shots don’t fall because you can’t dump the ball to Reed every single possession.

 

[superjohn]

At some point we have to call a spade a spade. Our "shooters" are not shooting the ball that well. Solo is a 31% chucker for the year. He had 5 seconds to square up a shot tonight and bricked it. 0-4 tonight. AK is as streaky as ever. He went 1-5 from three each of the last two games. Braylon is 6 for his last 24.

We're ~88th in the country at 35.7% (before tonight) and 156th in attempts (23.8). We were supposed to be an inside-out team, and while we've seen flashes of it (Tarris with 8 assists against Georgetown), it's been inconsistent at best, mostly because Tarris is the only + rebounder and low post threat (but also because we suck at feeding him in the post and he takes himself out of the game with stupid fouls, like his 2nd on Zuby when he should have conceded the bucket).

AK has 12 games this season where he's scored in the single digits. It's wild that a senior with his rep and accolades has been a nonfractor in that amount of games.

 

[Muddler]

Solo is due to hit his next 25-50 3’s.

That didn’t age well.

 

[Conndog]

UConn needs more players who can drive to the basket too. Too often the other team gets many more free throws because they are aggressive offensively and UConn is not. Hope that with recruiting and transfers UConn gets those athletic studs

 

[boog204]

Need to get Reibe in offense! High/Low he and Reed, he can drop a few from foul line and /or to hoop, create 2 bigs on 1 & kick out when it fails! Esp now that Stewart is out! Reibe can be big changer in upcoming games! Hope Dan reads this!

So if we had done that last night… are you having Reibe or Reed trying to check Hopkins or Mitchell? Point is, they can’t and either would be pick up two fouls before we could even pretend to do some awful high-low set that so many of you fantasize about.

 

[jibsey]

Offense is designed to take efficient, valuable shots: 3 pointers and post ups. The problem is that while that is technically analytically sound, it is oversimplified. It leads to the team stalling when the shots don’t fall because you can’t dump the ball to Reed every single possession.

I would say that ball moment with screening and cuts for easy baskets is the other part of our offense. Pitino took that away last night.

 

[superjohn]

We're not a good three point shooting team and Hurley constructed a roster where we have three starters who rely on three pointers because they can't take people one on one off the bounce.

Solo has struggled badly all season from three.

Karaban and Mullins were shooting it well from three. Karaban was shooting 43.9% from three and then the last 16 games happened and he's shot 32.9% from three. Mullins was shooting 38.7% from three and his last 16 games he's shot 32.1% from three.

 

[Scoe]

A three point shooting or a three point making team there's quite a difference. To answer the specific thread title yes we are a three point shooting team.

 

[aceboon]

We're not a good three point shooting team and Hurley constructed a roster where we have three starters who rely on three pointers because they can't take people one on one off the bounce.

Solo has struggled badly all season from three.

Karaban and Mullins were shooting it well from three. Karaban was shooting 43.9% from three and then the last 16 games happened and he's shot 32.9% from three. Mullins was shooting 38.7% from three and his last 16 games he's shot 32.1% from three.

This has been the last 3 years of AK, shooting over 40% well into the new year the last 3 seasons and then goes into a tailspin to finish below 40%. It's not even like he's taking Shabazz 3s off the dribble, they're still mostly set shots or off movement to get him open.

 

[Kowalski]

After the Marquette game we said no way they could shoot that poorly again. Well they shot that poorly again. Once is an aberration this is twice in a 4 game span.

One of the general problems is that a ton of these are not rhythm 3s they are just jacked up unnecessarily.

Agree. Lately, Mullin’s put up occasional rushed or off balanced shots that barely hit iron, or are all air. It’s one thing if they’re taken late in the shot clock.

And last night, Solo took at least one shot where it looked like he altered the arc higher to get it over a defender. There’s no need for that - he needs to move the ball to find better looks for someone else.

 

[jibsey]

Agree. Lately, Mullin’s put up occasional rushed or off balanced shots that barely hit iron, or are all air. It’s one thing if they’re taken late in the shot clock.

And last night, Solo took at least one shot where it looked like he altered the arc higher to get it over a defender. There’s no need for that - he needs to move the ball to find better looks for someone else.

Mullins had few open clean looks. We gave their shooters several completely wide open looks, Zuby. So Mullins is taking deep and closely defended 3’s where he has 0 time to get them off. Our offense is not creating opportunities for him or others for that matter. Can Hurley fix this?

 

[jake14mw]

He’s been told by Hurley NOT to take 17 footers.

That's fine, I'm not talking about 17 footers, I'm talking about his little fadeaways off the dribble from 6-10 feet. He's really the only guy that can make a shot for himself.

 

[willstafa24]

At some point we have to call a spade a spade. Our "shooters" are not shooting the ball that well. Solo is a 31% chucker for the year. He had 5 seconds to square up a shot tonight and bricked it. 0-4 tonight. AK is as streaky as ever. He went 1-5 from three each of the last two games. Braylon is 6 for his last 24.

We're ~88th in the country at 35.7% (before tonight) and 156th in attempts (23.8). We were supposed to be an inside-out team, and while we've seen flashes of it (Tarris with 8 assists against Georgetown), it's been inconsistent at best, mostly because Tarris is the only + rebounder and low post threat (but also because we suck at feeding him in the post and he takes himself out of the game with stupid fouls, like his 2nd on Zuby when he should have conceded the bucket).

If you remove Solo from the team then we are at 36.9% or 30th in the country. The problem hasn't been the % but that Solo leads the team in attempts by 38 over the next guy. Demary with only 77 attempts is a huge problem.

 

[willstafa24]

I would say this - that our offense is fairly reliant on 3's as a primary way to get points against good competition. Our only other option is dump downs into Tarris. This is what I've meant about not having an identity this year - their offense really doesn't have one. What can they do in a must have basket situation other than a 3?

This is a great point. We asked a similar question last year bc we did not have someone who could simply go get a basket. We would end with Diarra chucking up a 3.

This year's team has Solo with the 2nd highest usage rate at 24.1% but has a effective FG% at 49.6. The team's avg is 55.3%. Demary is 4th on the team in usage at 20.7% with an eFG% of 52.4. Alex is 7 in usage at just 17.9 but has an eFG of 56.7.

It's like we are in upside-down world. Solo is way too inefficient for his usage, Alex doesn't get enough usage and Demary sits in the middle.

 

[RuffRuff]

This is a great point. We asked a similar question last year bc we did not have someone who could simply go get a basket. We would end with Diarra chucking up a 3.

This year's team has Solo with the 2nd highest usage rate at 24.1% but has a effective FG% at 49.6. The team's avg is 55.3%. Demary is 4th on the team in usage at 20.7% with an eFG% of 52.4. Alex is 7 in usage at just 17.9 but has an eFG of 56.7.

It's like we are in upside-down world. Solo is way too inefficient for his usage, Alex doesn't get enough usage and Demary sits in the middle.

There is still no one on this team that you can hand the ball to in a situation to get a bucket.

 

[blkknight1]

I think that one of the biggest problems is that teams know they don’t have to play the drive at all. When you know that you can get up into shooters and they are can’t or won’t try to drive by it makes them a whole lot easier to defend.

Defenders getting up into our shooters are forcing them to do a couple of things. They are taking longer threes.They are taking rushed threes when they get a look. Not necessarily rushed by the defending team but their internal clock has them sped up trying to get a shot off. Then they take bad/unnecessary 3s taking them with sometimes 20+ seconds on the shot clock. That’s not the UConn offense.

Look at the difference between Solo/mullins/alex and Ross. Ross has been the best of 3pt shooter for us lately. He is taking his in rhythm he not rushed the others are just off because they are out of rhythm.

 

[Lafayette]

I think that one of the biggest problems is that teams know they don’t have to play the drive at all. When you know that you can get up into shooters and they are can’t or won’t try to drive by it makes them a whole lot easier to defend.

Defenders getting up into our shooters are forcing them to do a couple of things. They are taking longer threes.They are taking rushed threes when they get a look. Not necessarily rushed by the defending team but their internal clock has them sped up trying to get a shot off. Then they take bad/unnecessary 3s taking them with sometimes 20+ seconds on the shot clock. That’s not the UConn offense.

Look at the difference between Solo/mullins/alex and Ross. Ross has been the best of 3pt shooter for us lately. He is taking his in rhythm he not rushed the others are just off because they are out of rhythm.

true if you mean only corner 3s

 

[Mike Honcho]

If you remove Solo from the team then we are at 36.9% or 30th in the country. The problem hasn't been the % but that Solo leads the team in attempts by 38 over the next guy. Demary with only 77 attempts is a huge problem.

You also have to look month by month. Our three point shooting has fallen off a cliff recently.

 

[Shamon30]

Ball has the ability to drive the lane and score inside. I don't know why he doesn't do it anymore

 

[willstafa24]

There is still no one on this team that you can hand the ball to in a situation to get a bucket.

I do agree with you. I thought Demary would be that guy, and he is very good at getting to the hoop and finishing, but we have not encouraged him to do that this year so it's not something he looks to do. Everyone else will chuck up a 3.