March 25, 2016

Villanova’s secret to ridiculous three-point shooting: Shoot less

By Rich Hofmann
PhillyVoice Contributor

Trying to place Villanova’s 92-point explosion against Miami into the proper context isn’t the easiest task, so let’s begin by recapping the Canes’ torrid shooting: They were 25-47 (53.2 percent) from the field, 10-17 (58.8 percent) from three, and 9-13 (69.2 percent) from the line.

And ‘Nova was so much better, Miami lost by 23 while shooting those percentages. That, my friends, is hard to do. This box score is worthy of being hung in the Louvre:

When Jay Wright said after the game that this was the Wildcats’ best basketball of the season, offensively it also was maybe the best performance of any team in the country this season, considering the opponent and situation:

Old business: Villanova’s official-official number for points per possession comes in at 1.57. Synonymous with insane.
— John Gasaway (@JohnGasaway) March 25, 2016

For the record Villanova just scored 92 points in the second-slowest game of the tournament so far. That’ll do.
— John Gasaway (@JohnGasaway) March 25, 2016

The second point is key. Making the performance even more impressive, this game was played at a snail’s pace and the Wildcats still broke 90 points. ‘Nova was playing deliberately with a double-digit lead in the second half, comfortably working into late-clock situations.

In all three tourney wins for ‘Nova, the opponents have been dismantled by picture-perfect offense. The Wildcats shot an excellent percentage from inside the arc all season — They make 57 percent of shots from two-point range, good for third in the country — but their work from deep over the last week has put the offense into another gear. At the moment, ‘Nova is cruising at Ludicrous Speed.

How, though? At first glance, ‘Nova turning into the Golden State Warriors doesn’t make any sense. How can the 234th-ranked three-point shooting team during the regular season suddenly shoot 53.2 percent from deep in the season’s most important games?

The answer: By taking about five fewer threes per game, which in turn makes the rest of them better shots.

	Regular season	Tourney
3PM/G	8.5	11
3PA/G	25.4	20.6

“If you saw our game against Oklahoma early in the year, we were very, very aggressive shooting threes [and] very unintelligent shooting threes,” Wright told reporters in Louisville. “But we want to be that way and then over the course of the season, we find our decision making but stay aggressive.

“I think we have played long enough that we are making our best decisions now,” Wright said.

I’d say so. Some of this boils down to ridiculous shot-making in a small sample: The Wildcats are likely going to run into a game when they simply go cold from three-point range, a game when they’ll have to win with defense and taking the ball to the hoop.

They are more than capable of doing just that. It’s why saying “They need to make threes” and walking away is lazy analysis. Again: Villanova shoots 57 percent on twos!

“I just think we’re taking better shots,” Ryan Arcidiacono told reporters after going 4-7 from three. “Throughout the season, we didn’t really mix it up of catching and shooting and getting in the lane… We’re trying to get those threes up, but if they’re not wide-open ones, we’ll try to get in the lane and make a play for someone else.”

The Wildcats even have a goofy saying when it comes to three-point shooting: Shoot 'em up and sleep in the streets.

It comes from a book that Wright read, and even he isn’t 100 percent sure of the source (possibly former NBA player Mike Riordan). What it means is that to be a great shooter, you need to have the confidence to keep firing away… even if you’re missing so badly that nobody will let you in their house afterwards. Hence, sleep in the streets.

That is why even though the decision-making was terrible in that December game against Oklahoma, Wright liked his team’s confidence. It's that same confidence that allows Kris Jenkins to confidently pull 35-footers like it's no big deal. That was the starting point, and the rest of the season was about working back and refining the shot selection.