Liam McNeeley Shooting

[my2cents]

Liam is a very good player for us. However , his poor shooting lately has made winning for us a bigger challenge than it needs to be.
Over the last 7 games, he is 27 for 85 from 2's (31%) and 9-37 from 3's (24%).
At the same time a player like Stewart barely gets any shots.
If Liam is hot, fine...get him lots of shots. But if stays as cold as he has been, you have to go somewhere else.

 

[upstater]

Liam is a very good player for us. However , his poor shooting lately has made winning for us a bigger challenge than it needs to be.
Over the last 7 games, he is 27 for 85 from 2's (31%) and 9-37 from 3's (24%).
At the same time a player like Stewart barely gets any shots.
If Liam is hot, fine...get him lots of shots. But if stays as cold as he has been, you have to go somewhere else.

Liam is fine.

You're making too much of it because right now he's driving and getting clipped a lot with no calls.

Let's get into the NCAA tourney. Those are high percentage shots. He's not taking bad shots. And he's one of the few UConn players who can actually drive to the basket.

 

[Matt1010]

He's been one of our more inefficient offensive players this season and continuously driving at Kalk was never going to be successful.

With that said, he's still a great player and will probably get a better whistle in the NCAAs. He's also had completely unrealistic expectations put on him as a freshman since he's the only player on our team who can consistently drive/create a shot for himself. That leads to more defensive attention and lower shooting percentages.

 

[controlfade]

Liam is a very good player for us. However , his poor shooting lately has made winning for us a bigger challenge than it needs to be.
Over the last 7 games, he is 27 for 85 from 2's (31%) and 9-37 from 3's (24%).
At the same time a player like Stewart barely gets any shots.
If Liam is hot, fine...get him lots of shots. But if stays as cold as he has been, you have to go somewhere else.

Problem with Stewie is he seems timid to shoot. When he’s been aggressive and taking shots he has done very well.

 

[Giddyup5]

Liam is fine.

You're making too much of it because right now he's driving and getting clipped a lot with no calls.

Let's get into the NCAA tourney. Those are high percentage shots. He's not taking bad shots. And he's one of the few UConn players who can actually drive to the basket.

Yes. But he only knows how to drive to score.

He needs to learn how to drive to create an advantage and find the open man either behind the 3 point line or at the rim.

 

[WeAreUCONN]

We’re a one man team. If Liam scored 30 we win. If he doesn’t we don’t. It’s that simple.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Liam is fine.

You're making too much of it because right now he's driving and getting clipped a lot with no calls.

Let's get into the NCAA tourney. Those are high percentage shots. He's not taking bad shots. And he's one of the few UConn players who can actually drive to the basket.

Much was made of AK’s extended slump. This is also quite a slump, he needs to figure it out.

 

[BGesus4]

With the success he has drawing three second defender on drives, if he looks for the lob a bit more Samson could feast

 

[Scrutineer]

He's a freshman. Playing wayyyyyyyyyyy more minutes than he ever has. Based on how badly he wants to win and the pressure on him, as a result of so many others not doing what we thought they would, it's amazing he hasn't had a breakdown...........especially after hearing so often about Dan Hurley's issues in college.
Maybe a few days off will get him back on track, but you're right about his shooting. He hasn't produced in big moments since the big night at Creighton.

 

[TheShot1990]

Love having him on the team, but I’ve seen him ignore a wide open player such as Mahaney and elect to take it to the hoop against the big man too many times.

Mahaney has been better lately, and he should get that green light late in the shot clock. Better odds than Liam going one on three.

 

[RuffRuff]

Our higher percentage, self creation shot is dumping the ball into Reed. His issue at times lately is being too slow make his move. When he decides he’s going to take a shot, it needs to be within 1-2 seconds, not 3-5. Anytime he pauses he just loses it. If he’s quick to the rim he’s unstoppable. He’s at 67% right now.

This is easily our most reliable option and hasn’t been used enough this year.

 

[Umami Zen]

Think its fair to say that Liam has the green light from Dan to shoot. Re: Creighton game -Looked like he was looking to force the action in the paint vs Kalkbrenner. I kept thinking he would either get a foul call or a few "and ones". Never happened. Kalkbrenner is a very good defender but there was a lot of contact on many of those shots at the hoop. I believe he and Alex are going to get more open looks in the Tournament with the freedom of movement in our offensive sets. Gotta make the shots.

My concern with Liam is TOs. Frequently close to the top of the list for us for the second half of the season.

 

[Boost'ED]

Interesting topic.


Honestly never looked at Liam's stats until reading this thread but his percentages are pretty low.

His overall FG% is a tad under 40% and 3pt.% is right around 33%.

For somebody touted as a great shooter those values don't correspond.


However, on this team (way too often) Liam is tasked to be the shot creator, and frequently gets the ball with the shot clock dwindling.

His shot mechanics are spot on, it's just the shot selection and degree of difficulty in shots is weighing down his percentages.


On a better formulated team, Liam would be much more efficient.

 

[RuffRuff]

Think its fair to say that Liam has the green light from Dan to shoot. Re: Creighton game -Looked like he was looking to force the action in the paint vs Kalkbrenner. I kept thinking he would either get a foul call or a few "and ones". Never happened. Kalkbrenner is a very good defender but there was a lot of contact on many of those shots at the hoop. I believe he and Alex are going to get more open looks in the Tournament with the freedom of movement in our offensive sets. Gotta make the shots.

My concern with Liam is TOs. Frequently close to the top of the list for us for the second half of the season.

McNeeley has looked really off balance a lot lately. One message to him is just less Wild off balance shots, be balanced and square for now.

He’s shot 36% from field and 25% from 3 since Creighton away. Thats 9 games. It’s beem a rough run.

 

[UCfor3]

We’re a one man team. If Liam scored 30 we win. If he doesn’t we don’t. It’s that simple.

Solo has been a pretty consistent scorer for us. Think you are selling some of our guys short here.

 

[aceboon]

To keep it a buck Liam's outside shooting has not been as advertised this season. He misses a ton of easy/open looks

 

[uconnblueinky]

We’re a one man team. If Liam scored 30 we win. If he doesn’t we don’t. It’s that simple.

I'm not trying to be rude but how many games has Liam scored 30 this year?

 

[UC0NN]

We can't let a guy who has been cold as ice for a month to shoot 6-20.

 

[AllHusky]

I wonder what Liam’s ankle status is. 100%, 50%? Seems unsteady at times.

 

[TroyHall98]

Extended minutes where the pressure is on him to produce+physicality of the big east+potentially lingering issues from his ankle injury=a beat up LM

 

[Kowalski]

To keep it a buck Liam's outside shooting has not been as advertised this season. He misses a ton of easy/open looks

He’s 33% from 3 on the year. And the team goes to him a lot when the shot clock’s running down, which probably hasn’t helped his numbers lately.
I think he’s just trying to do too much. He’s got all the offensive tools but it would be good to see him trust his teammates more & look to pass when the shot’s not there for him.

 

[Scrappy3]

Starting Reed would help all 3 scorers

 

[gsmooth]

To keep it a buck Liam's outside shooting has not been as advertised this season. He misses a ton of easy/open looks

exactly. I was saying this after the win in Nova game in the Big East and I feel like an a. s. s. hole for saying it because I was thrilled and still am thrilled he chose UConn and that he has done good things for UConn. He missed some open shots in the Creighton game that would have made a big difference in the outcome of that game that I expect that someone I dubbed as a "dead eye shooter" should make. He is 11/44 in 3 pointers since that game in Omaha for a low 25%.

Here is hoping that some extra rest will get him going and the Hurley has some extra plays up his sleeve he didn't reveal in during Big East play-Hurley insinuated he did.

 

[Kemba15]

We’re a one man team. If Liam scored 30 we win. If he doesn’t we don’t. It’s that simple.

We beat Marquette 10 days ago when he scored 11 on 4-18 shooting

 

[gsmooth]

He’s 33% from 3 on the year. And the team goes to him a lot when the shot clock’s running down, which probably hasn’t helped his numbers lately.
I think he’s just trying to do too much. He’s got all the offensive tools but it would be good to see him trust his teammates more & look to pass when the shot’s not there for him.

HuskyWarriar611 I thought put it perfectly. He stated that Liam is trying to play hero ball too much in the name of "wanting to win so badly" instead of making the right pass and involving his teammates which he was doing earlier in the season. I agree with those statements because I am seeing the same thing. If he has the hot hand, okay hero ball it is and make the proper pass off the defense reacting, but otherwise don't revert to hero ball too much.