MU from 3

[MU82]

From The Athletic:

When Marquette went through its mini skid, losing three out of five between Dec. 19 and Jan. 10, it shot just 27.3 percent from 3. And in its six losses this season, Shaka Smart's team has bricked its way to 24.3 percent behind the arc.

In the last 10 games, however, the Golden Eagles are connecting on 43 percent of their 3s and have made double-digit triples six times, including a scorching 14-of-26 performance in Wednesday's 91-69 win over Providence. The lone bad showing in that time was a 5-of-23 day against UConn; that was also Marquette's only loss in the past 10 games.

The return of Chase Ross, who missed most of January with a shoulder injury, has been a big boost. Since he came back on Jan. 30, he's gone 21-of-37 (56.8 percent) from deep.

This team is built to spread the floor and move the ball, not pound it inside. The difference between a long run in the tournament and a second consecutive early exit could simply be those 3-point numbers.

[PGsHeroes32]

Is 21/37 from Chase a real stat??

Can't be

[Uncle Rico]

Is 21/37 from Chase a real stat??

Can't be

It isn't.  That is wrong

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Is 21/37 from Chase a real stat??

Can't be

He's actually 10/15 from 3 since coming back January 30th (66.7%)

21/37 is what he is from the floor since coming back. 

[JakeBarnes]

He's actually 10/15 from 3 since coming back January 30th (66.7%)

21/37 is what he is from the floor since coming back.

Marquette marketing department fails again

[tower912]

I am just glad MU changed their offense, stopped shooting  3s and layups, and focused on midrange jumpers.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I also read Stevie is 42% from deep since coming back from his hamstring injury. 

Kam has been on fire since the ankle injury.

TKO going to shoot 69% from deep after the oblique. 

[PGsHeroes32]

He's actually 10/15 from 3 since coming back January 30th (66.7%)

21/37 is what he is from the floor since coming back.

Makes way more sense.

I know he's shot well. But I'd need to see a doctor for blackouts if I really missed 20ish attempts

[Uncle Rico]

I am just glad MU changed their offense, stopped shooting  3s and layups, and focused on midrange jumpers.

The key to beating UConn will be to scrap the offense Marquette has been running and get Cam more jumpers from the FT line and Osa firing skyhooks from 15'

[Hards Alumni]

The key to beating UConn will be to scrap the offense Marquette has been running and get Cam more jumpers from the FT line and Osa firing skyhooks from 15'

Think of all the conditioning that could be saved if players just fired up full court shots.  You'd only have to practice a little bit of rebounding and just hit full court shots all day.

I'm pretty sure I'm on to something here.  Revolutionary, in fact.  I wonder what Bill Walton would think about it.

[brewcity77]

I posted this on January 22, a perfectly placed 10 games ago:

It's a valid question. Prior to this, our shooters were pretty much all over 40% on open threes, which is why we work so hard for those looks. I truly believed that natural progression from our returning players and replacing O-Max's threes with Jop threes would lead to a better shooting team, not worse.

We are 45% of the way through the season averaging 25.9 threes per game and making 31.5% of them. To equal what we did last year, we would have to go roughly 219/570 (38.4%) in our final 22 games. Is that possible? Certainly. But the way things have gone of late it sure doesn't feel likely.

In the 10 games since then, we've gone 107/249 (43.0%) from three. Individually, Ross is 10/15 (66.7%), Kam is 29/56 (51.8%), Kolek is 21/44 (47.7%),  Stevie is 8/17 (47.1%), Jop is 22/57 (38.6%), and Gold is 13/35 (37.1%), . So every primary rotation player other than Jop is well above their season average in that stretch (Jop is dead even). We are also now over our 3PFG% average from last year. I'm not sure we can keep this up, but if this is a 38-40% shooting team the rest of the way, there's a very good chance this season ends in Glendale.

[PGsHeroes32]

I posted this on January 22, a perfectly placed 10 games ago:

In the 10 games since then, we've gone 107/249 (43.0%) from three. Individually, Gold is 6/8 (75%), Ross is 10/15 (66.7%), Kam is 29/56 (51.8%), Kolek is 21/44 (47.7%),  Stevie is 8/17 (47.1%), and Jop is 22/57 (38.6%). So every primary rotation player other than Jop is well above their season average in that stretch (Jop is dead even). We are also now over our 3PFG% average from last year. I'm not sure we can keep this up, but if this is a 38-40% shooting team the rest of the way, there's a very good chance this season ends in Glendale.

I'm thinking the Benny 6/8 stat is also incorrect

[MU82]

He's actually 10/15 from 3 since coming back January 30th (66.7%)

21/37 is what he is from the floor since coming back.

Thanks for that correction. Pretty bad mistake by The Athletic, but the point still stands: Marquette does so many things so well that if we hit some 3s we are extremely difficult to beat (when healthy).

I am just glad MU changed their offense, stopped shooting  3s and layups, and focused on midrange jumpers.

And don't forget giving a bunch of Gold's minutes to Amadou, and a chunk of Ross' PT to Lowery.

We're a patient group here at Scoop.

[Shooter McGavin]

You have to remember we were scouted during that bad stretch.  That's why we weren't making threes. 

[brewcity77]

I'm thinking the Benny 6/8 stat is also incorrect

Damn was in his 2P column. 13/35, 37.1%, still well above his season average.

[brewcity77]

You have to remember we were scouted during that bad stretch.  That's why we weren't making threes.

Stevie has been breaking into locker rooms and stealing the opponent's scout.

[Hards Alumni]

Stevie has been breaking into locker rooms and stealing the opponent's scout.

Nope, he wears a disguise and IS the scout.

[barfolomew]

Think of all the conditioning that could be saved if players just fired up full court shots.  You'd only have to practice a little bit of rebounding and just hit full court shots all day.

I'm pretty sure I'm on to something here.  Revolutionary, in fact.  I wonder what Bill Walton would think about it.

#MakeHalfcourtTheFourPointLine

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

You have to remember we were scouted during that bad stretch.  That's why we weren't making threes.

No that's not true.  We weren't making threes on our own so teams worked that into their scout and focused on protecting the paint which is why our 2P% also cratered during that skid.

Now that we are hitting threes again,  the scout changes. We are a lot harder to scout than we were in December/ early January

[Shooter McGavin]

No that's not true.  We weren't making threes on our own so teams worked that into their scout and focused on protecting the paint which is why our 2P% also cratered during that skid.

Now that we are hitting threes again,  the scout changes. We are a lot harder to scout than we were in December/ early January

Yes, TAMU.  But it was on us not them.  A grade school coach could figure that out.  It didn't take the great Tom Izzo.  People were making it out to be a genius decision.  Like they had broken the code to our team.  It was silly.

[MU82]

No that's not true.  We weren't making threes on our own so teams worked that into their scout and focused on protecting the paint which is why our 2P% also cratered during that skid.

Now that we are hitting threes again,  the scout changes. We are a lot harder to scout than we were in December/ early January

Yep. It's pretty simple: Make a decent percentage of 3s, and the opponent can't pack the lane ... and getting into the lane is how our entire offense rolls.

Many Scoopers offered a version of "When we start making 3s again, a lot of the team's offensive problems will go away" ... but the Eeyores weren't having it.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Yes, TAMU.  But it was on us not them.  A grade school coach could figure that out.  It didn't take the great Tom Izzo.  People were making it out to be a genius decision.  Like they had broken the code to our team.  It was silly.

I think you are projecting a bit here.  I can't speak for everyone but I posted repeatedly about our 3P% needing a positive regrssion to the mean in order for our offense to get back on track.  There were some who didn't believe we'd get that positive regression to the mean and if they were correct then we would have remained scouted.

And Shooter, every scout is based on things that "are on us". We couldn't shoot so teams adjusted to exploit that.  We can't rebound so teams adjust to exploit that. We're aggressive on D, some teams have been able to adjust to exploit that (most fail). That's what scouting is.

[The Sultan]

People were posting repeatedly that our offense was generating a ton of good looks, but we just weren't hitting them. Now we are.

[tower912]

...and that the looks were the ones the offense was designed to generate and to just keep shooting.   

[BM1090]

People were posting repeatedly that our offense was generating a ton of good looks, but we just weren't hitting them. Now we are.

Which has opened up everything else. And fed into the defensive intensity. And everything is clicking. Sometimes it really is that simple.

The progressions we've seen from Stevie, Tre, Chase, Ben, Jop along with TK and Kam playing their best doesn't hurt either