That stat about A&M coming back without any 3-pointers is crazy ... and it made me want to look at our games vs. Power Five opponents this year. In these games, we averaged 7 3-pointers made on 24 3-point attempts for a percentage of 29%.
FEWEST 3-POINT ATTEMPTS
W 78-60 at Minnesota: 5-16 (31%)
W 75-66 vs. Michigan State: 6-18 (33%)
W 97-87 vs. Michigan (2OT): 5-18 (28%)
W 79-69 vs. Wisconsin: 10-19 (53%)
MOST 3-POINT ATTEMPTS
W 73-44 vs. Syracuse: 11-39 (28%)
L 93-71 vs. Missouri (St. Louis): 7-31 (23%)
L 72-60 at Ohio State: 6-29 (21%)
W 72-56 vs. Nebraska: 5-29 (17%)
HIGHEST 3-POINT PERCENTAGE
W 79-69 vs. Wisconsin: 10-19 (53%) ... almost all CoHawk
W 79-70 vs. UCLA (Las Vegas): 12-25 (48%) ... almost all Shannon
W 10-23 vs. Texas (NYC): 10-23 (43%)
L 80-65 vs. Indiana: 8-19 (42%) ... goes to show what TJD did to us!
LOWEST 3-POINT PERCENTAGE
W 72-56 vs. Nebraska: 5-29 (17%)
W 69-60 vs. Ohio State: 5-28 (18%)
L 72-60 at Ohio State: 6-29 (21%)
L 93-71 vs. Missouri (St. Louis): 7-31 (23%)
Some pretty telling things here:
- In the four games where we shot the most threes, we did not shoot above our season average ONE time. Our only two wins were at home against objectively bad teams, and the other two outings were embarrassments.
- In the four games where we shot the least threes, we shot above our season average in every single one except for Michigan. Wisconsin was pretty clearly a fluke shooting-wise, but recall the wins against MSU and at Minnesota; they were two of our best performances all year, and some of the few times our offense seemed to really flow.
- All in all, when we take fewer than 24 3-pointers (below our season average), we shoot 33%. When we take more than 24 3-pointers (above our season average), we shoot 28%. Obviously BU and the staff analyze this way more than my novice Excel exercise, but it's pretty clear he's right that it is likely the TYPES of threes we are taking in the games where we are jacking them up the most often.
- We took more threes than our season average in every one of our worst 3-point percentage games. Conversely, we took FEWER than our season average in all four games where we shot it the best.
- With that said, there isn't a huge correlation with wins on either end of this spectrum, which probably doesn't surprise us. We can get hot from three and beat REALLY good teams, or we can (wisely) not rely on the three and beat teams in other ways that suit our strengths. It's when we ARE NOT hot from three and yet keep taking a lot of them that we have looked our absolute worst.
One last thing to maybe give us some optimism!
Away Games: 70-262 (27%);
Home Games: 74-234 (32%)
Neutral Games: 44-126 (35%)
Even against PSU in the BTT, we shot better than our season average on fewer attempts than we average. Here's to hoping this team just likes to play in a neutral gym on a big stage, PSU is actually really good right now and we play loose/relaxed against Arkansas and know that the way to beat them is NOT to shoot too many 3-pointers ... especially contested ones!