UC 3 Point Shooting; How Bad Is It?

After the tough loss on the road at Seton Hall, and calling out bad 3 point shooting in this very space yesterday, I decided to delve deeper into the matter. We all know Cincinnati has been terrible at shooting the trey, but how terrible are they? Looking at the stats, fucking awful. They are a 29.45% 3 point shooting team. Give that 3 seconds to register. That’s 314 nationally and dead last in the Big East. I’ll type that again in bold and make the text bigger. 29.45%.Now if that’s not cause for concern, I don’t know what is. Oh yeah, the fact that UC is 79th in the country in taking 3s, and 5th in the Big East. During conference play, UC has made 31% of their shots from deep. Still horrible, but 10th in the Big East. And they’ve taken 64 3s, which is 8th in the Big East. It’s outrageous how bad this team is at shooting from long range. 


Let’s compare that to their 2 point shooting. Overall, Cincinnati shoots 44.8%. In conference play so far, it’s been 46.2%. Taking out the 3s, the overall shooting balloons to 52%, and is the same in Big East play. That’s nearly 8% and 6% better. So, who have been the culprits to murder the Cincinnati Bearcats 3 point %? Let’s find out. Note: Alex Eppensteiner and Yancy Gates have both taken 1 3 point attempt and missed.

1. Ibrahima Thomas 1-9 11%. Now you might be saying, but Ibrahima Thomas shouldn’t count. But you are wrong because he is going to take and miss more. In his freshman year at Oklahoma State, Thomas was 11-34 for 32%. Before he transfered, he was 2-7. That shows he is going to chuck when he has the chance. But Ibby, you are a power forward, don’t shoot the 3.
2. Lance Stephenson 6-38 15.8%. Born Ready was not born with a ready made outside shot. He’s still shooting 46% on the year despite this flaw in his game. I don’t know about you, but every time Lance has fired up a 3 since the Xavier game, I have cringed. Know why? BECAUSE HE HAS MADE 1 THREE SINCE! Lance is 1-14 in that stretch. Horrible, horrible, horrible. 
3. Dion Dixon 11-43 25.6%. It’s shocking to no one that my best friend, if it wasn’t creepy to say that he would be my best friend if we ever met and became friends, is really the second worst 3 point shooter on the team. He shot 30.5% last year, and this decrease is disappointing. Dion has really hit a slump from outside. Since December 1, Dixon is 6-26. Actually, let’s count December 1. He’s 8-28. Not very good. Follow through my man. And yes, I might start calling Dion Dixon my best friend every time I mention his name. 
4. Larry Davis 10-38 26.3%. This one comes as a great surprise. Larry hit 30% his freshmen year, and 35.2% last year. A 9% decline is very bad. Minutes have been cut, but Larry’s shot has not fallen. He started the year off 6-15, which isn’t completely terrible. From Xavier on he is 4-23. Ouch babe. I expect Larry to turn it around, because he has a nice looking shot. But damn is he slumping now. 
5. Cashmere Wright 9-30 30%. Cash at least has an even percentage. He doesn’t really take a whole lot of 3s. Not just because his minutes were cut. He’s actually 3-7 the last 7 games. That followed a 1-8 run, but let’s stay positive. Cashmere has gotten the message it seems, and I think his percentage will go up because he stopped taking silly 3s. 
6. Rashad Bishop 12-38 31.6%. Believe it or not, Rashad isn’t completely horrible at 3s this year. He’s not good, but he’s not mind numbingly awful. His first 2 years at UC he shot 29.2% and a horrible 26.3% last year. I don’t mind when Rashad shoots open 3s in rhythm. The problem is, he doesn’t always. He’s riding a cold streak 1-10, and 4 of those misses were against Seton Hall. When Rashad doesn’t rush, and doesn’t think he’s a superstar, he can make 3s. I don’t want him shooting a lot, but he has worked hard and gotten his percentage up 5.3 and that’s nice.
7. Jaquon Parker 7-20 35%. Parker doesn’t play much now, but he has hit 6-11 after starting 1-9. I doubt Parker will get the chance to shoot many more, but he is a good 3 point shooter. I think he has some potential.
8. Deonta Vaughn 34-94 36.2%. After a down year where he shot 33% from deep, Deonta has gotten the percentage up near where he had it his sophomore year. I don’t know if he can get it all the way back up to 39%, but the way he’s shooting right now, it’s possible. Deonta started the season off shooting terribly, his only good game deep was against Texas Southern. But since the Winthrop game, he is 18-32 56%. He’s been on fire. He hit 6 treys against Seton Hall which is his 4th best day by 3s made. He hit 9 a couple times and 8 once. Vaughn has gotten himself into a great rhythm, and I hope, as you do, it continues.
9. Darnell Wilks 6-14 42.9%. Darnell was 10-21 from deep last year to the surprise of many. He has a nice shot and only shoots when he’s open. The Xavier game was the only game I thought he shot too much from downtown. Darnell has the wide open green light from me every time. 

That’s it, that’s the list. Cincinnati has 1 player over 32%, and it’s the player you would expect. I hope that there is a way that Mick Cronin can get in the team’s head that shooting 3s is not a necessity. Especially if your last name is Stephenson, Dixon, Bishop or Thomas. I would like to see the Cats penetrate more and try to get to the line, but the guys stand around too much. Let’s hope the 3 point shooting is curbed for the most part, and the Cats get back to winning. Lastly, here’s a recap of who has the Bearcats Blog green light.