Gotta find a way to make 7 threes a game

[HalHR2500]

UK averages 4 makes per game and one reason is they take fewer than any team in country

You cannot lose 9-18 points per game on threes and beat good teams win with this type talent

Cal has to change this going forward

 

[hotelblue]

i agree. we need to find green some shots. knox can shoot over the defense whenever he wants but our best shooter is green. he can knock them down if he gets a look. he needs to take 6 or 7 a game imo and that’s 2 or 3 right there. knox gives us 1-2 and diallo or gabriel 1. that’d be 7 right there. we don’t take many attempts and that’s good if you can’t shoot it from deep. but we have to keep teams honest that’s why we still shoot it. i wouldn’t mind shooting even less so long as quade gets the bulk of the shots. he needs to shoot more threes than knox every game imo.

 

[EliteBlue]

This year it's more out of necessity bc we don't have a single shooter on the team. But it's also partly Cals strategy.

It hurt us in 2015 as well even with a guy like Booker. There were games we took single digit 3s, the Wisconsin game being one of them. They were 7-17 and we were 3-5. That's 12 points. (Also note that even w them shooting triple the 3s and is being the more physical team they shot 22Fts to our 10 (made 9) thanks Higgins)

If you're going to play that way as a strategy then you are banking on being extremely efficient offensively and shooting 20% better from the field than the other team to keep from spotting the other team points. 2015 was efficient enough to do that until the final 4. ND almost got us too as they were the most efficient O in the nation that year without limiting 3pt attempts.

 

[JoeBeeHall]

Put in a shooter.

 

[Bluesnky]

I wish our opponents would shoot threes on every possession. They only hit 29% of them. Turnovers and rebounds being equal, we could shoot 2s on every possession at 44% and still win.

 

[G-PIP]

No problem, Just take 30 3s.

 

[HalHR2500]

Cal doesn’t recruit enough shooters, the game has changed

40 percent of your shots should be threes

Dunks layups and threes should consist 75% of shots the 2 pt 8 foot to 18 footer is the absolute worst shot in college B.B. and UK takes way too many of those

Check out an NBA boxscore and look at Houston, Boston and Golden State

Does UK have an analytics department?

 

[Bluesnky]

I mean, realize that on average we hit a higher percentage of threes than our opponents. Dwell on that for a minute. It's crazy.

 

[Eddie Gran can coach]

No its not crazy at all, our opponents take twice as many threes, and last time I checked 3 is 150% greater than 2. UK has been outscored by 201 points from the 3 point line this year, let that sink in for a while

 

[Bluesnky]

No its not crazy at all, our opponents take twice as many threes, and last time I checked 3 is 150% greater than 2. UK has been outscored by 201 points from the 3 point line this year, let that sink in for a while

UK has outscored their opponents inside the three point line by 406 points.

 

[Eddie Gran can coach]

Bluesky why dont you look and see how they do in the SEC games only (ya know the 6-7 league record) and get back to me

 

[HalHR2500]

It’s not arguable that UK is getting killed in the 3 point game minus 15 last night I don’t care about percentages it’s about number of makes and UK doesn’t take or make enough

We had one player hit a three last night, one

That shrinks the court and clogs the driving lanes

The lack of 3s and threat of 3s is a major cause of the offensive bog

 

[Bluesnky]

Bluesky why dont you look and see how they do in the SEC games only (ya know the 6-7 league record) and get back to me

Friend, we give up 26% per game from 3 during conference play. They can take all the threes they want.

 

[Eddie Gran can coach]

Let me do some splainin' to you, percentages don't mean squat, number of makes do, 3FG, FT, and 2FG, if you shoot 12-20 yippee its 60%, guess what if i go 14-35, that's 40% and I win. You don't take into account the turnovers, offensive rebounds given up, lack of turnovers forced, frankly shooting percentage is a 1970 stat, not in this era, even heard of analytics, ya know the stuff they use in baseball, football and now basketball? Its a numbers game.

You can hold me to 26% on threes all night, but if I jack 30 and make 8, and you only take 12 and make 4, you shoot 33%

And I beat you by 12

 

[TNCatfanforever]

Put in a shooter.

Play Brad instead of Hami

 

[Ben101er]

The only way we make 7 threes a game, is to get Baker healthy, and that's probably not going to happen, this year.

 

[JonathanW]

I disagree. You only need more 3’s if you make a high enough % of them.

Someone gave the Wisconsin F4 game as an example where they were 7-17 and we were 3-5, saying we were down 12 points there. Wrong! They attempted 12 more, so our other 12 corresponding shots were 2’s. You make 50% of those (which you should do on 2’s) then there is your 12 points.

 

[Bluesnky]

Let me do some splainin' to you, percentages don't mean squat, number of makes do, 3FG, FT, and 2FG, if you shoot 12-20 yippee its 60%, guess what if i go 14-35, that's 40% and I win. You don't take into account the turnovers, offensive rebounds given up, lack of turnovers forced, frankly shooting percentage is a 1970 stat, not in this era, even heard of analytics, ya know the stuff they use in baseball, football and now basketball? Its a numbers game.

You can hold me to 26% on threes all night, but if I jack 30 and make 8, and you only take 12 and make 4, you shoot 33%

And I beat you by 12

Brilliant strategy! You will be dumbfounded however when I beat you by two shooting a mere 39% from two on those 18 threes I didn't take!

 

[HalHR2500]

Outscored by 45 points from three and 19 points from foul line in last four SEC losses

That’s minus 64

Your 2s won’t nor can’t compensate for that deficit

Whoopee you outscored me by 32 from 2s

I’m 4-0 and you are 0-4

 

[fabcat]

Friend, we give up 26% per game from 3 during conference play. They can take all the threes they want.

And we’re 6-7 in league play so how is that working for us

 

[Bluesnky]

Outscored by 45 points from three and 19 points from foul line in last four SEC losses

That’s minus 64

Your 2s won’t nor can’t compensate for that deficit

You aren't exactly breaking news that you lose when you give up more points than you score. We lost all of those games except A&M due to awful 2 point defense. Our three point defense has been mostly spectacular this year.

 

[Bluesnky]

And we’re 6-7 in league play so how is that working for us

A 53% two is a better shot than a 26% three.

 

[UK90]

Put in a shooter.

Like who? Is there some ace three point shooter on that bench that you're aware of that I'm not?

 

[UK90]

Play Brad instead of Hami

Is this a joke?

 

[fabcat]

A 53% two is a better shot than a 26% three.

So is it working?? Just curious our record says No but idk

 

[Cardsstink]

Makes me ill how cold Wenyan has gone. He gets a ton of open ones too and can get his shot off over anybody.

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

green and shai are only good at 3's when they are set and have enough time... rushed 3pt shots they are horrible at.... Hami and PJ are just bad shooters... Knox is average and then you Wenyen who is brick city the last several games...

Our chances to hit more threes are 1.... let knox , vando or pj drive in and them kick out to hopefully open and set shooters in green and shai... and knox if he's not the one driving...

or... put Baker in and play zone to minimize him being so far behind defensively.

 

[Bluesnky]

So is it working?? Just curious our record says No but idk

It's working for the other team but correctly identifying the reason it is working is the important thing. And the reason it isn't working is because we are 12th in the league in two point defense percentage.

You can say it opens things up for the offense, and maybe it does. But to say that teams are beating us because it is smart to take a higher percentage of 3 point shots at an awful percentage is silly.

I mean, Kentucky is shooting a higher percentage from three than their opponents in conference play (28% versus 26%) and all some of you talk about is how awful we are at shooting threes. And you want our guys to take that shot more?!

 

[HalHR2500]

Get percentage out of your brain, opponents are attempting many more shots per game due to turnover margin and offensive rebound margin

Analytics serve a useful purpose, from the UK offense approach it’s obvious they don’t have a clue where their shots should come from

It’s not that hard to fathom

 

[Fox2monk]

That is Cal fatal flaw. If he embraced talented shooters OMG we would be GSW.

 

[Bluesnky]

Get percentage out of your brain, opponents are attempting many more shots per game due to turnover margin and offensive rebound margin

Analytics serve a useful purpose, from the UK offense approach it’s obvious they don’t have a clue where their shots should come from

It’s not that hard to fathom

Our opponents have attempted less than 3 more shots per game than we have. That doesn't amount to much.

You would lose your mind, rightfully, if Kentucky shot as many threes per game as they allow their conference opponents to shoot, even though Kentucky would on average hit more than the team they are playing.

 

[thebluestripes]

The only way we make 7 threes a game, is to get Baker healthy, and that's probably not going to happen, this year.

I wonder if we even make that many in practice

 

[Eddie Gran can coach]

In the 13 SEC Games, the Cats are -90 from 3, plus 10 from FT line, and plus 62 from 2 point line:

At Home: Minus 24 on 3's, plus 39 on FT, and plus 6 on 2 pointers
On Road: Minus 66 on 3's, minus 29 on FT and plus 56 on 2 pointers

Opponents have shot more overall FGA in 11 of 13 games: This stat cannot be overlooked, the more you shoot, the better off you are.

UK has won the 3 point +/- once in 13 games, UK has won the FT +/- 6 times in 13 games, UK has won the 2 pt +/- 9 times in 13 games

So if you cant understand the importance of the three point line, you are in total denial.

 

[HalHR2500]

Thanks for that stats breakdown:

2-5 Road record they are minus 95 from 3 and FT line, impossible to win with that deficit

 

[The_Answer1313]

This is a horrible way to analyze it.

1) We are 270th in 3 pt FG% and you want us taking more?

2) Teams might be outscoring us from 3 because they take a ton compared to us but they are only making 29% of them. That's 2nd in the NCAA. It's the reason that our defensive efficiency is still a respectable 19th.

Looking at total points is a horrible way of looking at this.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Looking at totals for anything is horrible.

That's why most advanced analytics talking about rebound % and not total rebounds. Most analytics talk turnover % not total turnovers.

The % matters, not the totals. Auburn shot 29% from three. That is not why they won that game. They won that game because
1) We turned over nearly 20% of the time, compared to them turning it over 10% of the time.
2) They made free throws and we didn't.
3) Our big strength on offense all season was offensive rebounding % and that game we only rebounded 21% of our misses.

That's what cost us the game.

Them shooting a ton of threes actually played right into our hands because they weren't connecting on enough of them. Shooting 30% from 3 is the same as shooting 45% from 2. And shooting 45% from 2 isn't good at all. Especially against a defense that opponents are shooting nearly 53% on 2s in conference play.

 

[Wallins creek Cat]

Some posters got blasted earlier this year by saying we can't shoot.

I didn't blast you but I now applaud you. You were correct. We can not shoot at least not very well.

 

[Eddie Gran can coach]

This is a horrible way to analyze it.

1) We are 270th in 3 pt FG% and you want us taking more?

2) Teams might be outscoring us from 3 because they take a ton compared to us but they are only making 29% of them. That's 2nd in the NCAA. It's the reason that our defensive efficiency is still a respectable 19th.

Looking at total points is a horrible way of looking at this.

No it points to the fact that UK needs to recruit shooters and incorporate the 3 point shot in their offense, the numbers don't lie, and that is on Cal and coaching staff, they are 6-7 in league play

 

[HalHR2500]

You hard headed folks need to understand 3 is more than 2

I love the quote Looking at total points is a horrible way of looking at this

Think about that for a second

 

[Eddie Gran can coach]

This is a horrible way to analyze it.

1) We are 270th in 3 pt FG% and you want us taking more?

2) Teams might be outscoring us from 3 because they take a ton compared to us but they are only making 29% of them. That's 2nd in the NCAA. It's the reason that our defensive efficiency is still a respectable 19th.

Looking at total points is a horrible way of looking at this.

Yes looking at the measure by which games are won and lost are totally useless