A closer look at just how badly Kentucky is shooting from three-point range
When it comes to three-point shooting, Kentucky’s 2019-20 college basketball season so far has been the big chill.
Somehow John Calipari’s Cats found a way to beat Utah Valley 82-74 at Rupp Arena on Monday night despite making just one of 12 three-point attempts for 8.3 percent. That was the worst showing from behind the stripe in a game in which UK attempted 10 three-pointers since Dec. 5, 2014, when it was also 1-for-12 in a 63-51 win over Texas.
For an even less-accurate effort you have to thumb the record book all the way back to Calipari’s first season when the Cats were 1-for-13 from three-point range in a 73-67 victory over Alabama on March 12, 2010, in the SEC Tournament. That game may have been a preview of the 4-for-32 ice age (12.5 percent) from three that descended on UK in the NCAA East Regional finals that season when the Cats lost 73-66 to West Virginia and missed a trip to the Final Four.
The scary part for this season is that Monday night’s misses were of a piece with this team’s showing from three-point range this season. Through four games, this is easily Calipari’s worst three-point shooting team. At least to date. Check out this chart:
It should be noted that, as you can see, the 2015-16 team started out shooting 27.6 percent and was up to 36.6 by season’s end. The 2016-17 team started out shooting 28.4 percent from three and finished at 35.3 percent.
“Our issue right now is you can’t go and make one three-point field goal. So we got to go and figure out, OK, how are we going to do this?” Calipari said Monday. “Now, we had some guys that were wide open and almost shot air balls that are kids that make threes. So probably some of this is mental, game in the balance, are not ready to be in that position. I don’t care how good you are. Maybe not ready to be in that position yet. But you can’t have a team make 11 and you make one. How did we win the game?”
That cringe-worthy 21.3 percent overall ranks 342nd out of 353 teams in Division I basketball.
And Calipari also reached deep into his bag and brought out a familiar line of his:
“And let me say this, this is something that you could tell your child. You don’t have to make every shot. You just can’t miss them all. You can’t miss them all. You don’t have to make them all. Just can’t miss every shot. Thank goodness we were 1-of-12.”
Or course, there was a game when Kentucky did not make a three-pointer. When the Cats went 0-for-6 from three in their 78-73 NCAA Tournament second-round win over Davidson on March 15, 2018, in Boise, Idaho, it snapped a streak of 1,047 games in which UK had made at least one three-point shot.
Kentucky basketball game-by-game individual stats
This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 9:28 AM.
