The good news: Kentucky’s three-point shooting can’t get much worse
Proving yet again we dwell on the dark side, I bring you good news about this Kentucky basketball team.
Its three-point shooting couldn’t possibly get much worse.
Surely.
After all, going into Wednesday night’s college basketball action, the Cats ranked 342nd nationally in three-point percentage. They’ve made just 21.3 percent of their three-point attempts, or 13 of 61 to be exact. In Division I basketball, only 11 teams rank lower. UK is not at the bottom, but it can see it from there.
On Monday night, John Calipari’s club made just one of 12 three-point attempts in its 82-74 win over Utah Valley at Rupp Arena. That followed a 4-for-17 showing when UK got flat-footed by Evansville, losing 67-64. Even when the Cats steamrolled Eastern Kentucky 91-49, they connected on only two of 14 three-point attempts.
“Our issue right now is you can’t go and make one three-point field goal,” said Calipari after the Utah Valley game. “So we got to go and figure out, OK, how are we going to do this?”
And can we do this?
Immanuel Quickley’s absence Monday didn’t help, but it’s not like the sophomore guard has been knocking them down, either. He’s 3-of-11 for 27.3 percent which places him in line with his teammates — Tyrese Maxey 27.8 percent (5-of-18); Nate Sestina 22.2 percent (2-of-9); Kahlil Whitney 33.3 percent (2-of-6); Johnny Juzang 20.0 percent (1-of-5). Misery loves company.
Ashton Hagans, the sophomore point guard and elite defender who put in summer sweat to improve his shot, is off to an 0-for-9 start. He and freshman teammate Keion Brooks have something in common. Brooks is 0-for-3 from three.
Could it be the new extended three-point line?
“Doesn’t seem like anybody else is having a problem with it,” Calipari said.
We should pause here to say Cal’s teams don’t depend on a rich diet of threes. He has consistently stated the 15-attempt mark is about his sweet spot. Ten might be too few, anything over 20 is too many. “That’s not the way we play,” he asserted again Monday.
But you have to make a few three-pointers just to keep the defense honest, which caused Cal to reach deep into his bag of sayings and bring out an oldie-but-a-goodie.
“And let me say this, this is something that you could tell your child,” he said. “You don’t have to make every shot. You just can’t miss them all.”
Cal’s teams have started slowly from three-point range before only to improve. At this point, his 2015-16 team made just 16 of 58 three-point attempts for 27.6 percent. It ended up shooting 36.6 percent. His 2016-17 team was shooting 28.4 percent on 23-of-81. It wound up shooting 35.3.
And the coach has said this should be one of his better three-point shooting teams. Is he right? Maxey was 3-of-7 from three in his boffo Big Apple performance against Michigan State. He’s 2-of-11 since. Last season, Quickley shot 34.5 percent from three, seven points higher than his current percentage this year. Sestina shot 38 percent from three last season at Bucknell. That’s 16 points above where he is now. Juzang was recruited as a shooter. So far, he’s only attempted five three-pointers.
Here’s another thing: This team is kind of a mess right now. A mess in the sense there have been injuries (Nick Richards’ past ankle problem, EJ Montgomery’s current ankle problem, Quickley’s chest injury), mix-and-match lineups and something of a confidence crisis since the Evansville loss.
This probably won’t be one of those crazy three-point shooting teams. I don’t see a Stephen Curry among the current Cats. But once this team finds a comfort level, its three-point attempts should come out of the natural flow of the offense. When that happens, I think you’ll see more go down.
After all, where UK’s three-point shooting is concerned, there’s no place to go but up.
