UK's 3pt shooting

[JonathanW]

I am usually one of the more optimistic UK fans on this message board.
But I am concerned about our 3pt shooting (35.9%).

We have only 1 "very good" 3pt shooter (Brea),
and 1 "good" 3pt shooter (Almonor),
and then everyone else is just an "ok" 3pt shooter (thought Kriisa would be "good" but he hasn't and now might not play again at least before Feb).

I know most of you were very high on Robinson (I wasn't), a career 34% shooter, and his best was last year at 35.4%. So his current 31.6% may improve some (1-5%).
Everyone else on the team (except Kriisa who will be out for awhile, and the 3 FR who have a small sample size) are shooting about where should be expected.

 

[Basscat1987]

Concerned isn’t the word I tend to use in this situation. Encouraged is my word. Encouraging that we can win a high level game without going off from 3. The shooting will get back to where it was against cupcakes once we get comfortable running this offense against high level defenses. It’ll take time. This team isn’t superior athletically and it’s taken some time to adjust to quicker/longer defenses

 

[Aike]

Teams are overplaying us from the three, and consequently we’re top 20 in 2 point percentage. Pretty good for a team where no one was supposed to be able to get their own shot.

I think we’ll get it worked out, but I’m not sure we shoot much better than 36/37% on the season. If we can hold that level on 30+ 3s per game and get even better at making teams pay for overplaying the 3 point line, I like our chances.

 

[BlueBomb]

All I know is this: Pope has already proven to be adept at making adjustments. He'll adjust. Not sure how. Not sure what he'll do. But I have faith that he'll figure out something. First time I've had faith in our coach in about a decade.

 

[catsfanbgky]

I think the biggest problem with Robinson and even Oweh to an extent, is the shot selection. They have taken several bad off balanced, guarded 3 pointers. Be a little more patient and work for a better shot. Kriisa most of his takes are bad shot selection.

 

[megablue]

I am usually one of the more optimistic UK fans on this message board.
But I am concerned about our 3pt shooting (35.9%).

We have only 1 "very good" 3pt shooter (Brea),
and 1 "good" 3pt shooter (Almonor),
and then everyone else is just an "ok" 3pt shooter (thought Kriisa would be "good" but he hasn't and now might not play again at least before Feb).

I know most of you were very high on Robinson (I wasn't), a career 34% shooter, and his best was last year at 35.4%. So his current 31.6% may improve some (1-5%).
Everyone else on the team (except Kriisa who will be out for awhile, and the 3 FR who have a small sample size) are shooting about where should be expected.

With the current percentages we have and Kriisa out, plus entering the tougher SEC games with much tighter defensive pressure, I do not see how Pope can reasonably expect success by shooting 35+ threes per game ...

						Career
	20-21	21-22	22-23	23-24	24-25	Overall
BREA	0.355	0.423	0.370	0.498	0.551	0.444
ALMONOR	DNP	0.343	0.381	0.394	0.385	0.385
OWEH	DNP	DNP	0.250	0.377	0.360	0.366
CARR	0.286	0.405	0.311	0.371	0.357	0.345
BUTLER	0.290	0.329	0.342	0.302	0.333	0.322
ROBINSON	0.286	0.326	0.343	0.354	0.316	0.340
CHANDLER	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	0.273	0.273
KRIISA	0.368	0.336	0.366	0.424	0.263	0.362
PERRY	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	0.250	0.250
NOAH	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	0.250	0.250
GARRISON	DNP	DNP	DNP	0.000	0.143	0.143
WILLIAMS	0.00	0.500	0.267	0.333	0.000	0.308

Ranked by minutes played ...... Carr and Oweh need to take a few more threes, it seems to me:

	MINS	ATT	ATT/MIN	3PT%			MINS	ATT	ATT/MIN	3PT%
REEVES	1035​	188​	0.1816​	44.7%​		ROBINSON	247​	57​	0.2308​	31.6%​
SHEPPARD	953​	144​	0.1511​	52.1%​		CARR	239​	14​	0.0586​	35.7%​
DILLINGHAM	745​	144​	0.1933​	44.4%​		OWEH	234​	25​	0.1068​	36.0%​
WAGNER	748​	96​	0.1283​	29.2%​		BREA	206​	49​	0.2379​	55.1%​
EDWARDS	686​	85​	0.1239​	36.5%​		WILLIAMS	190​	0​	0​	0.0%​
MITCHELL	817​	82​	0.1004​	30.5%​		BUTLER	180​	21​	0.1167​	33.3%​
THIERO	535​	22​	0.0411​	31.8%​		KRIISA	156​	38​	0.2436​	26.3%​
IVISIC	176​	16​	0.0909​	37.5%​		GARRISON	140​	7​	0.0500​	14.3%​
BRADSHAW	358​	14​	0.0391​	28.6%​		ALMONOR	118​	26​	0.2203​	38.5%​
BURKS	140​	5​	0.0357​	40.0%​		CHANDLER	71​	11​	0.1549​	27.3%​
HART	10​	1​	0.1000​	100.0%​		PERRY	25​	4​	0.1600​	25.0%​
ONYENSO	448​	1​	0.0022​	0.0%​		NOAH	20​	4​	0.2000​	25.0%​

Statistics for 2024-25

​

 

[westerncat]

Concerned isn’t the word I tend to use in this situation. Encouraged is my word. Encouraging that we can win a high level game without going off from 3. The shooting will get back to where it was against cupcakes once we get comfortable running this offense against high level defenses. It’ll take time. This team isn’t superior athletically and it’s taken some time to adjust to quicker/longer defenses

I agree with this as when we were playing cupcakes our 3 point shooting was very good because they did not have the best players and their defense was not that great. Now we are playing better teams and their defense & players are much better. Pope is great so far in making adjustments as we saw against Duke & Gonzaga. I am not worried that our 3 point shooting percentage will drop some as the season continues. We are going to be fine.

 

[blackcat714]

Teams been guarding us close on the 3 glad Pope made the adjustment to get it inside to Carr against the Zaggs

 

[JPFisher]

I think UK is in the growing pains stage of learning this offense. Defenses know what to key in on and we don't have enough experience in the system to know which passes or reads to make to compensate.

Opponents are being physical, hedging on threes, and guarding Brea out by half court.

I think we get much better looks and spacing when the guys get more comfortable in the system. December and Camp Pope will be huge for us.

 

[JPFisher]

Teams been guarding us close on the 3 glad Pope made the adjustment to get it inside to Carr against the Zaggs

I think we set up Carr in the post more often from here on out. He seems hesitant to let it fly from three, but he's right at home next to the basket.

 

[megablue]

I think we set up Carr in the post more often from here on out. He seems hesitant to let it fly from three, but he's right at home next to the basket.

Good post ... he needs to shot more threes, as he's often very open on them and he's proven to be a good shooter over his career.

 

[blackcat714]

I think we set up Carr in the post more often from here on out. He seems hesitant to let it fly from three, but he's right at home next to the basket.

He is good with the head fakes

 

[JonathanW]

When you have guys shoot more 3's (than they seem willing to, or able to get open for) you are likely to see their % go down. Not what we want. So I'm not sure I would ask Oweh or Carr to shoot more of them. Give them the green light to do so, but don't force them.

We do need to do a better job of getting Brea open. And maybe get Almonor a few minutes at the 3 to get more shots from him. He is our 2nd best shooter, and only (slightly) trails Kriisa, Brea and Robinson in 3pt-attempt-rate (1 every 4.5min).

3pt attempt rates (1 every X minutes):
4.1 Kriisa
4.2 Brea
4.3 Robinson
4.5 Almonor
5.0 Noah (but not in meaningful minutes)
6.0 Perry (but not in meaningful minutes)
6.5 Chandler
8.6 Butler
9.3 Oweh
17.1 Carr
20.0 Garrison
NA Williams

 

[yoshukai]

I am usually one of the more optimistic UK fans on this message board.
But I am concerned about our 3pt shooting (35.9%).

We have only 1 "very good" 3pt shooter (Brea),
and 1 "good" 3pt shooter (Almonor),
and then everyone else is just an "ok" 3pt shooter (thought Kriisa would be "good" but he hasn't and now might not play again at least before Feb).

I know most of you were very high on Robinson (I wasn't), a career 34% shooter, and his best was last year at 35.4%. So his current 31.6% may improve some (1-5%).
Everyone else on the team (except Kriisa who will be out for awhile, and the 3 FR who have a small sample size) are shooting about where should be expected.

The part you are overlooking is that the focus of opponents defense is to take away our 3 pt attempts leaving the middle open with no “help” defense. That is why we have been able to win games against 2 top teams without big 3 pt shooting games . I’d love for us shoot 38% too , but we can win a lot of games just playing like we’ve been playing.

 

[megablue]

When you have guys shoot more 3's (than they seem willing to, or able to get open for) you are likely to see their % go down. Not what we want. So I'm not sure I would ask Oweh or Carr to shoot more of them. Give them the green light to do so, but don't force them.

We do need to do a better job of getting Brea open. And maybe get Almonor a few minutes at the 3 to get more shots from him. He is our 2nd best shooter, and only (slightly) trails Kriisa, Brea and Robinson in 3pt-attempt-rate (1 every 4.5min).

3pt attempt rates (1 every X minutes):
4.1 Kriisa
4.2 Brea
4.3 Robinson
4.5 Almonor
5.0 Noah (but not in meaningful minutes)
6.0 Perry (but not in meaningful minutes)
6.5 Chandler
8.6 Butler
9.3 Oweh
17.1 Carr
20.0 Garrison
NA Williams

We currently have FOUR (4) players shooting more threes per minute than Dillingham did last year ... and Dilly was a high-volume shooter. Dillingham shot the most threes per minute than any player under Cal during his 15-year career here.
Monk was second ...

 

[megablue]

The part you are overlooking is that the focus of opponents defense is to take away our 3 pt attempts leaving the middle open with no “help” defense. That is why we have been able to win games against 2 top teams without big 3 pt shooting games . I’d love for us shoot 38% too , but we can win a lot of games just playing like we’ve been playing.

1000% this ^^^
I just hope as we play more teams with good interior defense, our outside shooting holds up. It may have to ...

 

[JonathanW]

We currently have FOUR (4) players shooting more threes per minute than Dillingham did last year ... and Dilly was a high-volume shooter. Dillingham shot the most threes per minute than any player under Cal during his 15-year career here.
Monk was second ...

Not exactly. The most were Mulder & Dodson (1 every 3.5min).
The only Cal guys < 1 every 5min were: Murray, Willis, Monk, Reeves.
He did have more < 1 every 6min (Dillingham & others).
But very clearly Pope emphasizes the 3 much more than Cal.

Dillingham was more a high volume shooter, than a high-volume 3pt shooter, 60% of his shots were from 2. he put up a shot every 2.06min. That is more than any other UK player in the 2000's (beating out Monk, Murray and Meeks) for total volume.

 

[mebeblue2]

36% on 3's is like shooting 54% on 2's

 

[JonathanW]

36% on 3's is like shooting 54% on 2's

A lot of teams do make 54% of 2's.
Including this year, the last 4 years we have made 53.5%, 50%, 54.6%, & 59.4% of our 2's.

 

[aikenite4uk]

I'll take 35% over the rest of the season...52% Effective FG%.

 

[megablue]

Not exactly. The most were Mulder & Dodson (1 every 3.5min).
The only Cal guys < 1 every 5min were: Murray, Willis, Monk, Reeves.
He did have more < 1 every 6min (Dillingham & others).
But very clearly Pope emphasizes the 3 much more than Cal.

Dillingham was more a high volume shooter, than a high-volume 3pt shooter, 60% of his shots were from 2. he put up a shot every 2.06min. That is more than any other UK player in the 2000's (beating out Monk, Murray and Meeks) for total volume.

COACH	SEASON	GAMES	3PTA/GM	3PT	3PTA	3PT%	OFF	DEF	MGN	WINS	LOSS	WIN%	COACH
PITINO	1989-90	28	28.9	281	810	0.347	88.8	87.9	0.9	14	14	0.500	PITINO
PITINO	1990-91	28	25.5	242	715	0.338	85.9	78.1	7.8	22	6	0.786	PITINO
PITINO	1991-92	36	24.7	317	888	0.357	85.7	74.4	11.3	29	7	0.806	PITINO
PITINO	1992-93	34	25.4	340	862	0.394	87.5	69.8	17.7	30	4	0.882	PITINO
PITINO	1993-94	34	25.2	301	857	0.351	86.9	74.6	12.3	27	7	0.794	PITINO
PITINO	1994-95	33	22.3	276	736	0.375	87.4	69.0	18.4	28	5	0.848	PITINO
PITINO	1995-96	36	18.6	266	670	0.397	91.4	69.4	22.0	34	2	0.944	PITINO
PITINO	1996-97	40	19.4	287	777	0.369	83.1	62.8	20.3	35	5	0.875	PITINO
SMITH	1997-98	39	17.5	250	681	0.367	80.1	67.0	13.1	35	4	0.897	SMITH
SMITH	1998-99	37	18.3	226	676	0.334	75.4	62.7	12.7	28	9	0.757	SMITH
SMITH	1999-00	33	19.5	188	643	0.292	69.1	62.8	6.3	23	10	0.697	SMITH
SMITH	2000-01	34	20.8	245	707	0.347	79.8	70.6	9.2	24	10	0.706	SMITH
SMITH	2001-02	32	21.6	219	692	0.316	76.9	68.2	8.7	22	10	0.688	SMITH
SMITH	2002-03	36	16.3	208	585	0.356	77.3	64.1	13.2	32	4	0.889	SMITH
SMITH	2003-04	32	17.9	204	572	0.357	73.9	63.6	10.3	27	5	0.844	SMITH
SMITH	2004-05	34	18.7	218	635	0.343	73.6	62.6	11.0	28	6	0.824	SMITH
SMITH	2005-06	35	21.7	265	758	0.350	70.8	66.2	4.6	22	13	0.629	SMITH
SMITH	2006-07	34	19.1	231	651	0.355	73.4	67.7	5.7	22	12	0.647	SMITH
GILLISPIE	2007-08	31	15.9	182	493	0.369	68.5	65.6	2.9	18	13	0.581	GILLISPIE
GILLISPIE	2008-09	36	15.9	202	573	0.353	74.1	66.3	7.8	22	14	0.611	GILLISPIE
CALIPARI	2009-10	38	18.3	231	697	0.331	79.3	64.9	14.4	35	3	0.921	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2010-11	38	18.6	281	707	0.397	74.9	63.5	11.4	29	9	0.763	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2011-12	40	14.9	225	595	0.378	77.4	60.6	16.8	38	2	0.950	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2012-13	33	16.1	184	532	0.346	72.6	64.5	8.1	21	12	0.636	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2013-14	40	15.3	203	611	0.332	74.8	66.6	8.2	29	11	0.725	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2014-15	39	14.9	203	582	0.349	74.4	54.3	20.1	38	1	0.974	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2015-16	36	18.5	244	666	0.366	79.5	68.1	11.4	27	9	0.750	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2016-17	38	19.9	267	756	0.353	84.9	71.5	13.4	32	6	0.842	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2017-18	37	14.8	195	546	0.357	76.8	70.2	6.6	26	11	0.703	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2018-19	37	16.4	215	607	0.354	75.8	64.7	11.1	30	7	0.811	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2019-20	31	14.8	157	458	0.343	74.4	66.1	8.3	25	6	0.806	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2020-21	25	19.0	160	475	0.337	70.4	70.2	0.2	9	16	0.360	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2021-22	34	17.5	207	596	0.347	79.4	66.6	12.8	26	8	0.765	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2022-23	34	18.0	213	613	0.347	74.5	67.7	6.8	22	12	0.647	CALIPARI
CALIPARI	2023-24	33	24.2	327	800	0.409	89.0	79.7	9.3	23	10	0.697	CALIPARI
PITINO	8 YRS	269	23.5	2310	6315	0.366	87.0	72.6	14.4	219	50	0.814	PITINO
SMITH	10 YRS	346	19.1	2254	6600	0.342	75.1	65.5	9.6	263	83	0.760	SMITH
GILLISPIE	2 YRS	67	15.9	384	1066	0.360	71.5	66.0	5.5	40	27	0.597	GILLISPIE
CALIPARI	15 YRS	533	17.3	3312	9241	0.358	77.3	66.4	10.9	410	123	0.769	CALIPARI
	35 YRS	1215	19.1	8260	23222	0.356	78.5	67.5	11.0	932	283	0.767

 

[megablue]

Not exactly. The most were Mulder & Dodson (1 every 3.5min).
The only Cal guys < 1 every 5min were: Murray, Willis, Monk, Reeves.
He did have more < 1 every 6min (Dillingham & others).
But very clearly Pope emphasizes the 3 much more than Cal.

Dillingham was more a high volume shooter, than a high-volume 3pt shooter, 60% of his shots were from 2. he put up a shot every 2.06min. That is more than any other UK player in the 2000's (beating out Monk, Murray and Meeks) for total volume.

I didn't word my post correctly, as I was talking about for a single season. Still, though, you are definitely correct about Dodson and Mulder, as I missed them when I went down through everybody. Thanks for the correction ... great research !!

You are correct. Pope definitely emphasizes the three more than Cal ... and seemingly more than Pitino, especially in later years ... as Pitino's teams gradually shot fewer threes per game as time moved on and he had more talent on the roster.

 

[EliteBlue]

36% on 3's is like shooting 54% on 2's

This is what I was coming to say.

35% is a good shooting team. Anything above 33% means you’re equal or better than 50% from 2.

 

[Bluegrassking]

I think some very good team or three are going to reap an avalanche and just be buried with no chance at all no matter how excellent they are when they catch us in the wrong day.

 

[Digger-Cat]

Seems likd Pope is coaching by feel. If the team comes out hitting from 3, he rolls with it, if they're struggling, he changes it up.

He knows if we are hitting, we will bury any team we are playing.

I really hope our guys can find their touch again and also, I hope Pope figures out a way to get Brea open, he's been getting smothered the last few games.