Eagles look to heat up on 3-pointers

By Gary McCann - gmccann@heraldonline.com

With the team struggling to make a shot outside of the paint, it's little wonder that Winthrop's practices on Thursday and Friday had a little more emphasis on shooting the ball.

But coach Randy Peele and his staff didn't hammer home the message. Their players understand the situation, they know the shots aren't going down, they know they need to get better.

“Every team in the country is struggling to make shots,” he told them, while adding “we are going to make shots.”

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He hopes that starts at 4 p.m. today when the Eagles host USC Upstate (0-2) at the Winthrop Coliseum.

After two games, the Eagles (1-1) have made one of their 28 3-pointers (3.6 percent), an ugly statistic, one made uglier by the fact the Eagles are last among the nation's 347 NCAA Division I teams in 3-point percentage. They are the only team in the nation with just one made 3-pointer.

They missed all 13 of their 3-pointers at College of Charleston on Tuesday. The program had gone 221 consecutive games making at least one 3-pointer, a streak dating back to the March 14, 2002, an 84-37 loss to Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

They are shooting 34 percent overall, not quite as ugly, but a stat that lacks anything resembling a beauty mark. Take away the 3-pointers, and the Eagles are shooting 44 percent. Shoot 44 percent overall, and you win plenty of games.

But Peele knows his offense is going to produce open 3-point shots that have to be taken. He isn't about to kill his players' confidence by restricting shot selection. He and his staff recruited every player on the roster. They didn't go out looking for players who couldn't make a 15-footer. They know their players are capable of draining a jump shot.

“We're going to shoot more,” he said, “and we're going to try and get into their heads about being confident.” As he looked around after practice, he saw several players staying in the gym to get up some extra shots.

“I like that,” he said.

While the Eagles have struggled to knock down open shots, they are by no means alone in their pursuit of consistent shooting.

The early statistical returns through Thursday's games for the nation's 347 NCAA Division I teams say there are a bunch of teams who need to work on the same thing. There are 119 teams, 34 percent of Division I, shooting less than 30 percent on 3-pointers. There are 23 teams under 20 percent, including LSU (19.6), UCLA (17.2) and Florida (10.3).

Some Big South Conference teams are in the shooting icebox, too.

UNC Asheville, 0-2 and a 75-point loser at Tennessee this week, is supposed to have some of the league's best shooting guards. The Bulldogs have gone 8-for-42 from behind the arc (19 percent).

Liberty, with senior Kyle Ohman arguably the best perimeter threat in the conference, has gone 8-for-41 (19.5 percent).

Radford, the league favorite, has started 2-0 despite shooting 6-for-28 (21.4 percent).

The most disturbing thing about Winthrop's slow start is the fact it at least appears to be a continuation of last season, when the Eagles shot 40 percent overall and 28 percent on 3-pointers. Peele thought they had solved that issue by adding freshman Robbie Dreher and redshirt freshman Gideon Gamble, along with the extra offseason work put in by Mantoris Robinson, Andre Jones, Reggie Middleton and Justin Burton.

Robinson, Jones, Middleton and Dreher are a combined 1-for-23 from behind the arc, with Dreher making the team's only 3-pointer. Coincidentally, Dreher's 3-pointer came against Limestone when the Saints played one of their few zone possessions. Peele thought Limestone and the Cougars would play mostly zone since his team struggled mightily against that defense last season.

“Teams play us man-to-man,” he said, “we'll get some shots. They go zone, and Robbie hits that shot. I'd like to see some zone.”

They have had good shots in the first two games. They have not made enough of them.