Vanderbilt counts success by 3's
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee
For better or worse, Vanderbilt has pinned its hopes on the 3-point shot.
The Commodores have scored more from 3-pointers (561 points) than 2-pointers (540 points) this season. Factor in 275 points off free throws, and Vanderbilt has gotten 40.8 percent of its scoring from 3-pointers, the eighth-highest percentage among 351 Division I teams.
And the trend doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon.
"It's probably not typical of a lot of teams," said center Luke Kornet, who has made 15 3's in the past five games. "But it is for our team because we shoot the ball well."
Vanderbilt (9-10, 3-4 SEC), the SEC's top 3-point shooting team, hosts Arkansas (15-4, 4-3 SEC) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (SEC Network).
The Commodores beat No. 25 Florida 68-66 on Saturday by attempting the same number of 3-pointers as 2-pointers — 25 each. It's a formula that's brought reasonably good results so far.
At least half of Vanderbilt's field-goal attempts have been 3-pointers in four of its seven SEC games, and it has a 3-1 record in those 3-point heavy contests. It has a 0-3 SEC record when shooting more 2s than 3s.
Coach Bryce Drew said it's not necessarily by design, but rather a product of the players' skill-sets.
"With our personnel, they migrate to the 3-point line because they are very good 3-point shooters," Drew said. "Teams will game-plan against that, and they have been, to take away our 3s. So we have to come up with other ways to score or other ways to create 3-point shots. And I think in the last couple of games our guards have done a good job getting into the lane and shrinking the defense so we can score at the rim some."
Vanderbilt's reliance on the 3-pointer starts at the top. The team's three leading scorers — Matthew Fisher-Davis (16.4 ppg), Kornet (13.4 ppg) and Riley LaChance (10.3 ppg) — have made a combined 123 3-pointers and 116 2-pointers.
The trio's percentages have been nearly the same, as well, shooting a combined 43.2 percent from 3-point range and 44.2 percent inside the arc.
Drew said he has no problem with players opting for 3-pointers, as long are they are high-percentage shots.
"We just want open shots," Drew said. "So if we have an open shot four seconds into the break, we want guys to take it. We want guys to have confidence when they shoot, but we want to make sure they are good looks. That's our big thing over anything else — make sure it's a good look."
Reach Adam Sparks at asparks@tennessean.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.
3-POINTER OR BUST
(Highest percentage of overall points scored from 3-pointers in Division I)
1. Savannah State: 47.2 percent
2. Central Michigan: 45.6 percent
3. Santa Clara: 44.2 percent
4. Belmont: 41.5 percent
5. Liberty: 41.4 percent
6. Western Illinois: 41.2 percent
7. Princeton: 41.2 percent
8. Vanderbilt: 40.8 percent
9. Akron: 40.3 percent
10. Elon: 39.7 percent
Source: Ken Pomeroy college basketball analysis (kenpom.com)
VANDERBILT (9-10, 3-4 SEC) vs. ARKANSAS (15-4, 4-3)
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
TV/radio: SEC Network/1510-AM, 560-AM, 95.9-FM