BYU ranks 345 out of 353

In the number of free throws this season.



https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/stat/free-throws-attempted-per-game



Incredible. We have entirely changed our game. Last year we averaged 23.4 (11.8 this season thus far), which would have tied us for #31, so big change.



We're winning because it's our 3-pt accuracy is carrying us.

https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/stat/points-from-3-pointers



We're tied for 6th in the nation in 3-point points/game.



Now, which do you feel more comfortable with? Driving less to the bucket and therefore racking up less FT's, or shooting 3-pointers and being in the Top 10 in the nation in 3-pt points?



I don't know the answer. Ancillary to more FT's is that you're going to more often get more opposing players to foul out. I guess I just worry that if you live and die by the 3-point shot, you're usually on more tenuous ground because we've all seen good shooters go cold, but if you rack up fouls and don't make the FT's, then you're also in trouble.



Bottom line, I guess my observation is that with a team of good shooters, which we do have, this is probably the best approach. IMHO.

Here's where we sit with our 3-pt shooters thus far



https://byucougars.com/dl/sites/default/files/season-stats/2019-20%20Season%20Stats-15.pdf



You can see why we're tied for 6th in the country.

There have been a few games like the Utah game where the refs have not been calling the same fouls on both ends. However, this far into the season you have to say that this is a characteristic of the team. Even with Childs we are not a very big team, but the coaching staff does seem to be making this a finese team. That's not bad necessarily. I love watching the 3s fall. But, I feel if we are purposely avoiding contact in the lane then that will haunt us in certain games.



I also want to see how we rank in defense and specifically opposing 3FG%. The eyeball test says we are much better in this regard and should serve us well in WCC play.

Wow, we are hitting 40.7% of our threes while our opponents are hitting just 29.1%! That ranks us #55 in OPP 3FG% which honestly I thought would have ranked us higher. But if you factor in our SOS we've played a tougher schedule than most of the teams ahead of us.

BYU is also:

#27 in Assist Turnover Ratio at 1.33

#32 in assists at 16.5

#26 FG% at 48.50%

I'll take this current brand of ball than the "drive into traffic and hope you get a call" brand we were playing before.



Moving the ball and getting open looks puts you in the driver seat as opposed to relying on the refs to call a foul.

Gunk wrote:

I'll take this current brand of ball than the "drive into traffic and hope you get a call" brand we were playing before.



Moving the ball and getting open looks puts you in the driver seat as opposed to relying on the refs to call a foul.

Driving to the basket is great, if you dont need the refs to bail you out once you get there.