NCAA moves three-point shot farther from basket. See what else is new.

The three-point line will be farther from the basket and teams will have fewer seconds to take a second-chance shot next season in major college basketball.

The NCAA announced those and other changes approved by its Playing Rules Oversight Panel on Wednesday.

The three-point line in Division I college basketball will be moved from the previous distance of 20 feet, nine inches to the international distance of 22 feet, one and three-quarter inches. Because of the cost associated with removing the previous three-point line from courts and painting a new line, the change will not take place in Division II and Division III until the 2020-21 season, the NCAA said in a news release.

The change comes after positive reaction to experimentation with the international distance in the 2018 and 2019 National Invitation Tournaments, the NCAA said.

The change is intended to open up the lane for drives to the basket and “slow the trend of the three-point shot becoming too prevalent,” the NCAA said.

Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl, an unabashed proponent of the three-pointer, said last week that the longer distance will not inhibit his teams’ use of the shot.

Speaking at the Southeastern Conference Spring Meetings, Pearl said of the expected move of the three-point line, “It’ll affect us like it did the last time they moved it. We’ll probably shoot a few fewer because the guys will have a little less confidence that they can make it. And the shooting percentage will go down a couple of points.”

Auburn made more than 100 more three-point shots than any other SEC team this past season. In an SEC Tournament game against South Carolina, the Tigers took 72.3 percent of their shots from behind the three-point line (34 of 47).

“I’m still going to play the same way,” Pearl said. “I’m still going to believe in it. I think it’s important to space the floor. At the same time, you’ve got to scratch where it itches as our old friend Hayden Fry said. If I’ve got guys who can’t shoot it, they’re not going to. We’ve got to work on our range during the off-season. It’ll take a year or two for the percentages to go right back to where they were.”

By contrast, Kentucky took and made the fewest three-point shots of any team in the SEC’s 18 regular-season games: 289 shot, 106 made.

When asked on Tuesday about the expected move of the three-point line farther from the basket, UK Coach John Calipari all but shrugged.

“Either way, it doesn’t matter to me,” he said of the distances previously used in college basketball and international competition.

The Panel also approved re-setting the shot clock to 20 seconds after a field goal attempt hits the rim and is rebounded by the shooting team. Previously, the shot clock was re-set to 30 seconds.

“The change is being made to enhance the pace of the game,” the NCAA said in a news release. This change was in place for this year’s NIT. Calipari welcomed such a change that put fewer seconds on a shot clock.

Other changes approved included:

▪ Allowing referees to review a goal-tending or basket interference call in the final two minutes of the second half or any overtime period. Kentucky fans may remember that LSU beat UK on a last-second tip-in that replays showed should have been nullified because of basket interference. Under the existing rules, referees were not permitted review judgment calls on basket interference or goal-tending.

Without mentioning the LSU game, Calipari said he would consider it “important” for a change that permitted such a review.

“Let’s be able to challenge calls, including non-calls,” the UK coach said. “I don’t know exactly how you would do a non-call. When would you stop it? How far back? If you were looking at a call, could you evaluate other things within the call?”

But NCAA spokeman David Warlock said the review in the final two minutes will only take place on calls of goal-tending or basket interference. When referees do not call goal-tending or basket interference, those judgments will not be reviewable.

▪ Allowing coaches to call live-ball timeouts in the final two minutes of the second half and any overtime period. Previously, coaches were not allowed to call live-ball timeouts at any point of a game.

▪ Allowing referees to call a technical foul if a player uses derogatory language about an opponent’s race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.

This story was originally published June 5, 2019 at 3:36 PM.