Good Stats for Basketball

[RaginDave]

I know many of us complained early in the season on the 3 point shooting as it was horrendous, but the Cajuns have really picked it up. They are now shooting 33.9% as a team from 3 point land, but more importantly 40% as a team in conference play. Some of the reasons for his are:

Cedric Russell has picked his % up to 39%
Devin Butts has picked his % up to 36.1%
Jacobi Gordon has picked his % up to 35.5%

Others that have contributed are Mylik Wilson, Brandon Au and Dou Gueye are all above 20%, all of these guys were shooting well into the teens at one point. Au's shot has greatly improved as he is shooting almost 30% overall and 33.3% in conference play. The other thing that has been helpful because they shoot it really well, but don't take allot of them are Kentrell Garnett and Ty Harper, while they are only a combined of 16, Harper is 4 of 5 on the season and Garnett is 4 of 11 on the season. Harper's % probably won't stay at 80%, but man I like the way he shoots the ball.

Au is playing better overall, he seems to be hitting some nice mid range jumpers now, he needs to finish better around the rim, he seems to miss a ton of easy layups at the goal, this might be due to his injuries.

If we can continue to shoot as well as we have from the outside, it will really open things up for Akuwba, Gueye and Richards.

I really like Butts stroke from the outside, and he is starting to drive better as well. Harper is going to be a stud at some point in his college career, he is still young and learning, but he might be the most athletic player on the court at any time. He reminds me a little of the "Easter Bunny", AJ, for those of you a little older.

[Turbine]

Good stats

33.3% from 3 point range is equal to 50% from 2 point range.

[zephyr]

I actually mentioned this is the game thread from Saturday. Not many people really talked about the fact that we shot 64% as a team Saturday. The thing I found interesting is that we did it on only 17 attempts. Rebounding has been the reason, IMO, that we've been successful this season but we were neutralized there this past game. We won that game with efficiency.

I wonder if our reduction in 3's was intended since coach mentioned they did not want to send as many guys to the offensive boards to negate their transition. Since we've shot it so poorly from 3 this year, it would make sense to take less if you are only sending two to rebound. Either way, I'd like to see us take an amount closer to what we did Saturday. If we think about it, our two best perimeter shooters took 14 of our 17 attempts. Yes, they shot it well but we didn't have a lot of poor shooters jacking shots up.

I'm curious to see how this unfolds for the rest of the season.

[JayWalker]

I actually mentioned this is the game thread from Saturday. Not many people really talked about the fact that we shot 64% as a team Saturday. The thing I found interesting is that we did it on only 17 attempts. Rebounding has been the reason, IMO, that we've been successful this season but we were neutralized there this past game. We won that game with efficiency.

I wonder if our reduction in 3's was intended since coach mentioned they did not want to send as many guys to the offensive boards to negate their transition. Since we've shot it so poorly from 3 this year, it would make sense to take less if you are only sending two to rebound. Either way, I'd like to see us take an amount closer to what we did Saturday. If we think about it, our two best perimeter shooters took 14 of our 17 attempts. Yes, they shot it well but we didn't have a lot of poor shooters jacking shots up.

I'm curious to see how this unfolds for the rest of the season.

Several have commented about the number of three point shots taken in the series with Texas State. The stat is a little misleading. In those games the Cajuns took 46 and 48 shots, not only their lowest number for this season, but the lowest in the last three or four seasons. That being said, the percentage of shots from 3 did go down some.

I'm still amazed Texas State took about 30 more shots than we did in the two game series and made more free throws and we still won both.

This is one of Bob's better defensive teams.

[cajuns80]

Several have commented about the number of three point shots taken in the series with Texas State. The stat is a little misleading. In those games the Cajuns took 46 and 48 shots, not only their lowest number for this season, but the lowest in the last three or four seasons. That being said, the percentage of shots from 3 did go down some.

I'm still amazed Texas State took about 30 more shots than we did in the two game series and made more free throws and we still won both.

This is one of Bob's better defensive teams.

It all starts with having capable big in the middle of the defense, it makes everything so much easier.

[RaginDave]

It all starts with having capable big in the middle of the defense, it makes everything so much easier.

I agree, but you can clearly see the difference when Akuwba leaves the game. I really like Isiah Richards, I was not sold on him early in the season, but he has come on offensively later in the season, but we lose allot when he replaces Akuwba on defense, specifically against bigger stronger big men. Our guard Defense is pretty solid, obviously Wilson is really good, but Harper is pretty talented and really long and Russell and Au hold their own. Au would be much better if not for injury hampering him. Gueye and Akuwba are really good down low. Butts is improving his defense. Right now, Gordon's defense is somewhat weak and again Richards is overpowered quite a bit of the time, it really shows against, as I mentioned before, the bigger stronger players. I would actually like to see (just for a short period of time, not extended) Richards, Akuwba and Gueye on the court together. We probably would give up some open shots on the outside, but it would be really tough on the interior.

[cajuns80]

I agree, but you can clearly see the difference when Akuwba leaves the game. I really like Isiah Richards, I was not sold on him early in the season, but he has come on offensively later in the season, but we lose allot when he replaces Akuwba on defense, specifically against bigger stronger big men. Our guard Defense is pretty solid, obviously Wilson is really good, but Harper is pretty talented and really long and Russell and Au hold their own. Au would be much better if not for injury hampering him. Gueye and Akuwba are really good down low. Butts is improving his defense. Right now, Gordon's defense is somewhat weak and again Richards is overpowered quite a bit of the time, it really shows against, as I mentioned before, the bigger stronger players. I would actually like to see (just for a short period of time, not extended) Richards, Akuwba and Gueye on the court together. We probably would give up some open shots on the outside, but it would be really tough on the interior.

That lineup would only work on Little Rock. Any other team we put that lineup out there and we would probably struggle.

[Hatch]

I know many of us complained early in the season on the 3 point shooting as it was horrendous, but the Cajuns have really picked it up. They are now shooting 33.9% as a team from 3 point land, but more importantly 40% as a team in conference play. Some of the reasons for his are:

Cedric Russell has picked his % up to 39%
Devin Butts has picked his % up to 36.1%
Jacobi Gordon has picked his % up to 35.5%

Others that have contributed are Mylik Wilson, Brandon Au and Dou Gueye are all above 20%, all of these guys were shooting well into the teens at one point. Au's shot has greatly improved as he is shooting almost 30% overall and 33.3% in conference play. The other thing that has been helpful because they shoot it really well, but don't take allot of them are Kentrell Garnett and Ty Harper, while they are only a combined of 16, Harper is 4 of 5 on the season and Garnett is 4 of 11 on the season. Harper's % probably won't stay at 80%, but man I like the way he shoots the ball.

Au is playing better overall, he seems to be hitting some nice mid range jumpers now, he needs to finish better around the rim, he seems to miss a ton of easy layups at the goal, this might be due to his injuries.

If we can continue to shoot as well as we have from the outside, it will really open things up for Akuwba, Gueye and Richards.

I really like Butts stroke from the outside, and he is starting to drive better as well. Harper is going to be a stud at some point in his college career, he is still young and learning, but he might be the most athletic player on the court at any time. He reminds me a little of the "Easter Bunny", AJ, for those of you a little older.

Butts % is actually down as he was at 43% after the first conference game against Tx St, then he went through a pretty rough stretch for a bit. He is about as streaky of a shooter as I can remember. Even thinking back to the LSUA game he was 4/5 from 3 in the 1st half. In the 2nd half he attempted 2, one was an air ball and the other went off the side of the backboard from the corner. Garnett has a very awkward release but he can flat out shoot. They even left him in the game late last weekend against Ark St and he knocked down the 1st 4 FT attempts of his college career to help ice it. Wilson had the great shooting game against UTA but he is still well below his average of 36% last year from 3. Gueye is too as he shot 25% last year.

I agree on Harper, think he is going to live up to his recruiting rankings. He has been very calculated in his outside shots, I think the only 3 attempt he missed was trying to get a quick one off before the end of a half. He doesn’t have the size of the Easter Bunny but athleticism may be even better. If he could put on a little more strength to help him finish some of those dunks we may be making the Dwayne Mitchell comparison instead. For now Harper is deferring the Russell and Wilson as the main scoring threats but he can take over that roll in the future. I hate to say it but the new 1 time transfer rule really scares me with someone like him.

I still think Michael Thomas can be a quality PG in the future even though we haven’t seen much of him. In the little bit he has played he is averaging 8 assists per 40 minutes with an assist to turnover ratio on par with Au and Wilson. The depth at guard has just swallowed him up with the addition of Harper whose athleticism makes him a better option. Thomas just needs to put on some muscle so he doesn’t get pushed around as much as a defender. He would probably be redshirting if not for the “free” year of eligibility.

[Cajunsmike]

Here is another stat that is positive. Coach Morris posted on Twitter earlier today that the Cajuns are No. 8 in the country in "Percentage of 2 point shots Blocked". As his post said, -"Protect the Paint". When Theo Awkuba was brought in we hoped the interior defense would improve. That has occurred. Richards has also had a few blocks. That needs to continue in order to maintain first place.

[zephyr]

Here is another stat that is positive. Coach Morris posted on Twitter earlier today that the Cajuns are No. 8 in the country in "Percentage of 2 point shots Blocked". As his post said, -"Protect the Paint". When Theo Awkuba was brought in we hoped the interior defense would improve. That has occurred. Richards has also had a few blocks. That needs to continue in order to maintain first place.

Yes, he's the biggest impact player this year. He's 4th in the country in blocks per game.