Coming into the game against Vanderbilt, Arizona State was bottom two in all of NCAA Division 1 in 3-point shooting. That’s right. Out of all 351 teams, Arizona State was ranked 350th.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!They had a really good game versus Vanderbilt, specifically in the first half, where Alonzo Gaffney went 5/5 from 3-point range. However, in the first half, Arizona State was a combined 4-39 from three before that. Arizona State is currently ranked 297th out of 351 teams in three-point percentage after their game against Vandy, but it’s becoming a major issue.
In the way this league works nowadays, hitting the threes is so important. When teams make tournament runs, they often do so by hitting threes in clutch situations. ASU isn’t doing that right now; their missed threes usually come on wide-open shots. Teams are letting them shoot those shots, and they are still missing. Arizona State had a nice game versus Vandy, but in every other game this year, they haven’t found the net on those shots except for late garbage time threes.
Now, besides Gaffney and sometimes Neal, no one else has stepped up. In fact, Gaffney was 1-27 from three coming into that Vandy game.
“It’s just about getting up reps, man.” Gaffney said, “Just putting up 500 shots a day. Throughout my career, I’ve always been a great shooter. So, these couple of games got in my head about shooting, but it’s just getting to my spots and letting my teammates find me.”
When you have that type of game, your coach is going to let you shoot it. Coach Hurley has no issue with Gaffney taking those shots.
“I would not allow him to take those types of shots if I didn’t think he could make them. I’ve seen it enough in practice.” Hurley said, ” The mechanics of his shots are pretty elite. When he’s shooting the ball like that, I have tremendous confidence it’s going to go in.”
Arizona State has been successful in practice, but one good game doesn’t show it. They will need to continue building on it in order to give their fans confidence and stay in games versus good opponents.
Arizona State Turn Best Game into Biggest Win as They Win 82-67
