Now at 28.5% on the season. That’s still kind of bad but a huge upward movement from the 19% or so he was at several weeks ago.
He’s shooting 42.3% from 3 over the last 7 games (11 for 26). If he can hit 30-35% going forward that helps us out a lot.
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Yep. Like Galen, he just needs to be a legit threat from distance so teams don’t sag off of him. Galen knocking down 3s this year has opened up so many more opportunities in his game as well as other opportunities in the paint for others. We needed that to happen in the worst way after losing Rob.
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In conference games:
Jarreau 42%
Brooks 37%
Davis 35%
Alley 34%
Hinton 32%
Robinson 31%
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He’s only a freshman. This kid is going to be really good come his junior and senior seasons.
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And after air mailing the first one well over the rim, had the confidence and ability to knock down his next two (or at least that is what I remember).
I’m glad he keeps shooting it.
I still think his hop is a little too jerky and his follow through needs help – with that said I sat behind the bench a couple games ago and Coach Sampson said exactly this after his 2nd missed 3 in a row – “Keep shooting Ced” he said. He clearly is shooting well in practice and drills for him to have confidence in him to keep putting up the 3s.
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The one he had on the wing where he faked his defender and then stepped back to his left off the dribble was a thing of beauty!
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His form isn’t great and is nowhere close to as smooth and mechanically sound as Brooks or Davis, but I don’t think it’s bad to the point he can’t hit 30-35% on open looks from 3 (though I’ve had some arguments on here about this point). I remember hearing an ex-player once say something like “You don’t have to have a perfect shot. You just have to perfect your shot”. Shawn Marion shot 33% from 3 for his career with really bad mechanics and had a season where he made 39% on 4.5 attempts per game because he was getting great looks from Nash. That said, it would be great if he can tweak his mechanics a tad over the offseason to shoot more on balance and with a smoother release.
If Ced continues to shoot well/okay this season (really hope this happens), credit to Sampson for continuing to have confidence that Ced could eventually translate what he is likely doing in practice into game situations.
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Exactly. Floor spacing is crucial.
What’s very apparent to me, is he is a good 3 point shooter when he is wide open and bad one when has to rush the shot or has someone with a hand up near him. So the key for Alley to continue to shoot over 30% for the rest of the season is be selective. If they leave him wide open, take the shot, if they come up on him pass or make a move.
He spots up almost like he is shooting long range free throws. He would have to change that to ever be the go to guy when the other team knows he is the go to guy. I’ll be surprised if they try to change his mechanics because that could do more damage to his accuracy when he is open than help his shooting when he is covered.
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I’ve noticed he’s really off when his feet aren’t set. Sometimes he tends to rush his shot. But the same could be said of every shooter really.
One factor that I think could be helping Alley’s percentage a little recently is the decrease in his minutes. Early in the season he was playing ~28 mpg. Over the 7 game stretch I mentioned, in 6 of those he played between 13 and 21 minutes. The only time he played more than that over this stretch was against Temple playing 29 minutes and he happened to go 0-4 from 3 that game. Tired legs can definitely affect 3 point shooting (see the Rockets in Game 7 of the WCF last year).
It could just be a coincidence though because he shot great against BYU (though he was always wide open, which probably is among the biggest factors) playing 32 minutes and had some low minute games with a bad shooting percentage.
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I agree, Shaggy. He needs to be selective. He’s not yet to the point where he can create his own shot. If someone closes out on him, he can shot fake, side step and get a more open look. In fact, the little hitch in his step might set him up well for that. But for now, he needs to only shoot those when he’s open and use the threat of him shooting to blow past defenders who close out too aggressively.
The biggest factor is easily attributed to teams like ECU seeing that Alley (at that time) was shooting 20% from behind the arc. Pretty much all the way up to mid January, all teams were playing a straight up man defense on us for 35 to 38 minutes a game. That included covering Alley out to the arc like any other player. When teams tried zone for 2 or 3 minutes, Armoni and Davis quickly had them pay. The last 7 games, teams have tried to play a pseudo man defense sagging off Alley when he is behind the arc to help with defense against penetration, passes to the post and defensive rebounding. It’s not working out too well for that strategy against us. Even Nate is 7 of 16 over the last 9 games. That’s 43.5% for those keeping score.
Completely agree with what you said here. My fear is that some of his mechanics are not routine. I watched a game from Sec 118 row 1, and watched him shoot free throws. The first his wrist badly followed through to the right, and not down. Shot went right. Next shot follow through was on-point, and made his shot. If his mechanics become consistent no doubt 35% 3s is attainable.
Don’t the pre-broken nose / post broken nose split… I hope he can bounce back to where he was before the Temple game.
I honestly don’t know if his 0-1 against UCF is with the face mask on or off but he has only attempted 5 shots since the broken nose so not effecting his progress too much. I honestly think the face mask probably hinders his peripheral vision (catching and passing) more than his ability to shoot anyway.
He was 11-20 from the field in the three games before the accident and 4-14 in the last two. He seemed to be unstoppable before that. I am hoping he can get it back on track.
Anyway…back to Alley ball. Glad to see him hitting from beyond the arc!
It’s true but also weigh that the last two games were at UCF and against Cincy. Arguably our toughest home and road games of the season back to back. Let’s see how he does at UConn. UConn might be 10-2 at home but the best team they have beaten in that stretch is SMU. Pretty sure Nate will get ample playing time and plenty of good looks.
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