A bunch of them have been several feet behind the line and some contested. And he was hitting 30% or so at the start of that streak.
Why is he still playing ahead of Dilly and Sheppard?
Why is he still playing ahead of Dilly and Sheppard?
Over the last two games Wagner has missed 11 3 point shots in a row.
- Thread starter ukfan1622
- Start date
Wagner is fair at best from the 3pt line, his best game is driving, but he tends to play too much one on one and forgets the other 4 guys are on the court.
I'm probably 0 for my last 200 PowerBall attempts. Shooters gotta shoot.
he hasn’t made much of anything anywhere on the court as of late
It seems like he’s a step slow too. I don’t think his ankle is 100%. That’s no excuse for missing 11 in a row though.
Now that he's up "in the big leagues" that driving stuff won't fly.
Last edited:
Down to 28% 3pt land....he's bricking his to a Savhir Wheeler stat line.
Remember when Wheeler went multiple games in a row without making a shot? Those were wild times.
The 3 top recruits have been BUSTS and have had their asses carried by guys ranked lower than them and 5th year seniors. Cal clearly doesn’t have the eye for talent he used to. He either misses on his targets or if he does manage to get a top guy they end up being massive busts.
DJ/Bradshaw/Edwards/Whitney/Clarke/Boston all in the last few years just off the top of my head. They were all top 10 guys in most rankings and all massively underproduced. At any other school they all return for atleast another year. Here they all leave after their blunder of a year or flat out quit before the season even ends.
DJ/Bradshaw/Edwards/Whitney/Clarke/Boston all in the last few years just off the top of my head. They were all top 10 guys in most rankings and all massively underproduced. At any other school they all return for atleast another year. Here they all leave after their blunder of a year or flat out quit before the season even ends.
And yet Cal tells him to keep shooting. Thanks Cal - that advice worked out great tonight. 👍
He has never been very quick. He is good at taking long strides in the lane but that shit doesn't work at college level and above. Dj has a long way to go. I hate seeing him jack up 3s.
DJ sucks he can't shoot. My 35 year old ass can shoot better from distance than he can and that's after a 50 hour work week.
And Cal tells us that they don't have to hit all of their three pointers but they can't miss all of them either! Apparently that does not apply to DJ.
He cannot finish which makes his driving ability moot.
Hell he's only made 1 shot over the past 2 games.🤡
Actually, it's 11 in a row missed in his last 6 games. His last made 3 was with around 3 and half minutes left in the UGA game.
He's also 8 for 39 in those 6 games.
Before that he was actually shooting well. 35 for 61 in the 6 games prior. Included in that was 8 for 19 from 3
He's also 8 for 39 in those 6 games.
Before that he was actually shooting well. 35 for 61 in the 6 games prior. Included in that was 8 for 19 from 3
On top of the bad shooting he has only 14 assists to 11 turnovers in those last 6
He does not run the offense well at all.
Last edited:
I do agree with that, defenses push him away from the basket a lot which makes it hard to finish as the rim, John Wall he is not.
He doesn't finish well on 40% of those drives, he is not strong enough or fast enough to get to the rim with out the defense pushing him out, at this point in time, I don't see him doing much in the NBA.
Exactly. He should never shoot another 3. Preferably just not even play much except as a sub. It needs to be reed Reeves and rob. It's that easy. So easy only cal could mess it up
His inability to consistently be a three point shooting threat was apparent pretty early on, and has basically only gotten worse. Unfortunately that is the one thing he REALLY needed to work for him so defenders would have to honor it and give him opportunities to break them down and penetrate to the basket for layups. But he isn’t getting that now, which is why he rarely is able to score at the rim. He is generally just another body on the floor on the offensive end now, which severely limits what he can contribute. It’s time he primarily moves to a supportive role off the bench.
That's not true at all. Other than the first two games, he was hitting over 40% until the 4 game layoff.
Here's the problem we're seeing with DJ: He doesn't play to his strengths enough. He's not a perimeter shooter, especially off the dribble. The less 3's he takes, the better. He needs to attack the rim, he needs to get to the FT-line, and he needs to get 4+ assists a game. His draft stock (for what that matters) is dropping because he's not playing to his strengths.
Reed on the other hand, playing to his strengths. Taking his open shots, but not forcing shots - most of us want to see him shooting more - but again, he's playing to HIS strengths - and look at his draft stock
Reed on the other hand, playing to his strengths. Taking his open shots, but not forcing shots - most of us want to see him shooting more - but again, he's playing to HIS strengths - and look at his draft stock
There was a little stretch where it seemed DJ was playing to his strengths and poised for a nice breakout. Lately, he does seem to be forcing way too much. I don’t know if it’s because he sees his draft slipping or what, but he is playing a lot of “me” first ball.
I’m unsure what you mean by “other than the first 2 games”… but the stats I’m seeing show Wagner 18/66 (27.3%) on 3 pointers for the season, and 6/25 (24.3%) in conference play. I’m not going back to scrutinize percentages by games over the season. I guess maybe he had could have had a brief moment where he was at 40% on a relatively small number of attempts, I don’t know. But it is evident from the body of work he is not a consistent 3 point shooting threat, and opposing defenders know it. Auburn basically played 5 on 4 defense on several possessions when Wagner was on the floor and invited him to shoot from beyond the arc.
I’m not knocking the kid. I think he has a lot of tools to work with and could become a monster if he develops a consistent jumper and expands his game to go both right and left. He needs another year and lots of shooting drills this summer. But I don’t know if we’ll get that if he is dead set on declaring for the draft.
You can tell that ankle is costing him some lift and explosiveness right now. I do have to give him some credit that he’s playing through a nagging injury and not sitting out for months under mysterious circumstances like we’ve sadly become accustomed to in our program, but at the same time, he’s doing a really poor job recognizing his limitations right now. He could still contribute if he’d just focus on his defense and making the right pass, but he’s still hunting his shot despite obviously being hampered in his ability to finish, and it’s been brutal to watch. Some of that is on him for not adjusting, but a lot of it is also on Cal for seemingly not doing anything to rein him in.
Last edited:
As a coach, it's a tough situation. For someone like DJ, you HAVE to tell him to attack, to be aggressive, to play confident. That's the only way he can reach his ceiling. Kinda similar with CJ Frederick, even when he's slumping and missing shots, you still have to tell him he has the absolute green light. They have to play with confidence and freedom in order to produce.
DJ just has to navigate those waters. For example, he should NOT take 3's early in the shot clock, but he can take 3s. He can NOT take 3s off the bounce, but he can take kick-out 3s. He doesn't shoot from the perimeter at a high enough clip to take 3's other than feet planted, kickout ready shots
I'm not sure exactly what his ceiling is, though. He's pretty limited.
Post-Kansas, meaning the Stonehill game on - He was shooting 35% on threes, 52% FGs, 12.5 PPG, with 4 APG and a 2:1 A:TO ratio. That is a good ballplayer. (Penn-UGA game was 41% on 3s)
He's been awful starting with the South Carolina game though, and especially in February, just as he was in those first 2-3 games. I'm just saying, it's been an up-and-down season, not 'only gotten worse'. That's all.
No, shooters gotta hit. Just admit that 3 of these oads just don't have it and are extremely overrated. Wagner will never play in the nba.
Wagner will get there. While I hate the excuse, he is pretty young. His only real strength is driving. It worked in HS, but not against college players. He has the build, but his first step isn't nearly quick enough right now. He's probably realized that and will just let it fly now instead. Wagner will be a good player, it just won't be for us.
