Does it surprise anyone else that we are shooting the exact same 3PT% as last year?

[jake14mw]

35.8%, both this year and last year. It just seems like this year's team is not as good of a three point shooting team as last year to me. I thought we would be down a bit from last year. I was thinking that we were missing Cam (44%), and AK is down (34% this year, 38% last year), and Haas (27% vs 36%).

I guess Solo is a huge part of it, being 44% this year vs. 32% last year. He is also shooting a higher % of the team's threes this year at 26.4% than last years leader (Cam) last year at 23.6%

 

[boog204]

I think we overlook that Newton was actually not a good shooter. 32% on 221 attempts is actually not very good. But you forgive it because he hit so many daggers.

 

[Hoophound]

I’m guessing we took a lot more shots last year. It takes us forever to create offense this year. We use the whole clock every time. We also rebounded better.

 

[uchusky32]

I think we overlook that Newton was actually not a good shooter. 32% on 221 attempts is actually not very good. But you forgive it because he hit so many daggers.

Yeah, he also took a lot of late clock 3s.

 

[Gurleyman]

We actually were kinda terrible from 3 in the postseason. Made a few against Bama when we needed them at least. But we blew out the second best team in the country for the nattie on a day when all of our shooters shot poorly.

 

[aceboon]

they really only had 2 efficient 3pt shooters last year

 

[bendm]

Not surprised, but we rely on the 3 a lot more this year, so it’s not a good thing.

 

[Palatine]

No. But it's because were were high early. Lately we've bad.

 

[Mike Honcho]

We actually were kinda terrible from 3 in the postseason. Made a few against Bama when we needed them at least. But we blew out the second best team in the country for the nattie on a day when all of our shooters shot poorly.

Yup. It's kinda crazy how we were able to dominate the NCAAs last year when we only had one game out of six shooting above 27% from three (vs Alabama we were 11/23 or 48%).

 

[Excalibur]

We’ve had a handful of games where we have shot the lights out, which skews the overall %.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Remember people were blaming the March Madness balls last year? This year I just want the chance to complain about those lol

 

[jake14mw]

No. But it's because were were high early. Lately we've bad.

Yeah, 26% in the past 4 games, I guess it's just recency bias.

 

[navery12]

Not really, this is a much better shooting team than last year and I'd expect we end the year higher. Last year's complaints got lost in the wind because the reality is we were so dominant it didn't matter what happened. But there were lots of questions all year about what we'd do if our 3 point shot wasn't falling in March, then that happened and it still didn't matter

 

[Jaydumo20]

Not really, this is a much better shooting team than last year and I'd expect we end the year higher. Last year's complaints got lost in the wind because the reality is we were so dominant it didn't matter what happened. But there were lots of questions all year about what we'd do if our 3 point shot wasn't falling in March, then that happened and it still didn't matter

This is a great point. I like exploring fan psychology and this shows that we retroactively clean up some of last years shortcomings, as you say, because they were so good.
The most egregious is how we were just as cruel and down on the '23 team as we are to this team, yet we look back at them with stars in our eyes.

 

[homunculus]

We’re streakier. This season we tend to make a ton when it doesn’t matter as much, and miss when it matters. Last year, we could make the daggers when it mattered, and we could also win by 20 without making any 3’s. We only made 2 threes in the 30-0 run against Illinois which was mostly breakouts and layups.

 

[Scoe]

It only makes sense that we need to hit the 3 more this year in order to 3 peat.

 

[blkknight1]

What’s the efficiency on them though. Last year probably took less 3s as the team didn’t rely on it. This team is much more reliant on the 3 and probably takes more.

This team also gets to the line way less than last years team.

 

[REB1094]

Full season:
Last year: 35.8% on 23.8 attempts
This year: 35.3% on 25.0 attempts

Conference play:
Last year: 38.2% on 23.3 attempts
This year: 35.2% on 23.3 attempts

That 3 point difference in conference play is the difference between 26.7 points from three and 24.6 points from three, 2.1 PPG difference. So small that it shouldn't matter

But a fun little hypothetical..if you add 2.1 points to our point total every game in BE play (I know it doesn't work that way but bear with me), we are 12-3 instead of 10-5

Every point matters in a season where we have 4 losses by 2 or less points

 

[uconnric]

Yeah, 26% in the past 4 games, I guess it's just recency bias.

I think AK's shooting struggles have made it seem worse.

 

[jibsey]

We are due. Just a feeling.

 

[boog204]

Yeah, he also took a lot of late clock 3s.

Absolutely and there is a huge difference between him being able to create a decent late clock 3 and Hassan taking fadeaway airballs.

 

[HuskyFich]

Solo McNeeley & Karaban have taken 63% of our 3 point attempts this year.

The reason it feels surprising is because over the last 8 weeks, it’s really just been Solo.

This is why the hot takes on Solo get me frustrated…he is single handily keeping us relevant and in games. The amount of daggers he hits to kill runs is truly remarkable.