Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleNotebook: Kruger may soon seek more disciplined shot selection
With Rebels shooting just over 25 percent from 3-point range, improvements must come quickly
John Miller / AP
UNLV coach Lon Kruger, center, talks to his team during a during a second-half timeout against Arizona. UNLV won in double overtime, 74-72.
Friday, Dec. 4, 2009 | 2:30 a.m.
The Rebel Room
Insight from the AP voter who has UNLV at No. 11
-
You need to upgrade your Flash Player
Ryan Greene is joined for a special edition of The Rebel Room by Tom Keegan, who is the sports editor of the Journal-World in Lawrence, Kan. Why, you may ask? Well, Tom in his AP poll last weekend voted UNLV at No. 11, which was the highest nod the Rebels got following their victory over Louisville to improve to 5-0. Keegan explains why he voted UNLV so high, plus offers some insight into another program he knows well in Kansas State, who visits the Orleans Arena for a showdown with Lon Kruger's club next Saturday.
Related Sun Content
The Rebel Room
ARIZONA POSTGAME: Not a beauty contest
-
You need to upgrade your Flash Player
Ryan Greene breaks down the key points from UNLV's 74-72 squeaker in double overtime on Wednesday night at Arizona, led by Tre'Von Willis's 25 points and late-game gusto. Plus, a preview of Friday's Rebel Room podcast, featuring a special guest.
Still in the immediate glow of a grinder of a victory on Wednesday night at Arizona, UNLV coach Lon Kruger dove right into a couple of concerns lingering on the surface.
Not trying to rain on his players' parade in any way, the most notable topic was his club's 3-point shooting. It's been far from stellar this season, and in the squad's first road test, it was downright ugly.
Sure, Derrick Jasper hit the game's biggest shot, cashing a trey late in the second overtime which proved to be the capper in a 74-72 victory for No. 24 UNLV.
But makes from deep have been inconsistent, and if it doesn't change soon, Kruger said he will intervene.
"A couple more games," Kruger said of his "deadline" following the team's Thursday practice at Cox Pavilion. "I told them last night, if you want to shoot them, you better start making them. The objective's not to shoot them; the objective's to make them."
UNLV got some quality looks on Wednesday from beyond the arc. Well, the Rebels actually got a lot of them. But whether the misses were bad or attempts which just rimmed out, the 5-of-26 results were unsightly.
Through six games, the Rebels are shooting 25.2 percent from 3-point range, hitting only 31 of 123 attempts. It ranks near the bottom of the barrel in the Division-I ranks. One bright spot on the horizon is that UNLV's next two opponents — Santa Clara on Saturday and Kansas State on Dec. 12 at the Orleans Arena — are among the nation's weakest squads in 3-point field goal defense.
As far as single-game percentages go, the 19.2 UNLV posted on Wednesday was a season low, barely edging a 20 percent showing against Holy Cross and a 22.7 against Louisville.
"It's kind of interesting where we are, record-wise, shooting 25 percent from three, and we're shooting quite a few threes," Kruger said. "We were talking to the guys afterwards, saying, 'Hey, we've got a couple more games, and either we start making threes, or we're shooting fewer.'"
A shift in gears on offense would play toward what has been a strength for UNLV this season during its 6-0 start — shooting inside of the arc.
Despite shooting 39.7 percent for the night on Wednesday, the Rebels hit 52.4 percent of their shots from two-point range.
For the season, they're shooting 56.3 percent in that department.
Junior Kendall Wallace, who was 1-of-4 from distance on Wednesday night, is the only Rebel shooting better than 40 percent from outside, having hit nine of his 21 attempts.
After that, freshman Justin Hawkins is 4-of-10, while Derrick Jasper is 3-of-9.
On the other end of the spectrum, Oscar Bellfield is 5-of-23 and Tre'Von Willis is 4-of-20.
"Some of the threes, you want plays in rhythm, you want plays that happen," Kruger said. "You can't force the issue, but you want the right guys shooting threes. Right now, we only have a couple, three of them with a chance to make many, so we have to start making more."
A testament to depth
Eight different Rebels played at least 14 minutes on Wednesday in what the team dubbed as a true team effort.
UNLV truly flexed its strength in numbers while clawing its way to a gritty win.
One prime example was starting forward Chace Stanback spending much of the stretch run in regulation and all of both overtimes on the bench after contributing 23 key minutes early on, with nine points, three rebounds and three steals. He came into the game averaging 21 minutes per outing.
During that stretch, senior forward Darris Santee produced much of his nine points and six rebounds before fouling out. Wallace contributed major hustle plays under the boards and was a menace on defense during his season-high 26 minutes.
"It was very important," Stanback said. "In the end, we just kept going to the people that were scoring. They got the job done, came away with the win for us."
Added Jasper: "Everyone played real well; everyone played real unselfish, and that's the key to our success this year. We're gonna win a lot of games like that."
What's made it possible early on is a lack of ego.
"That's not always an easy thing, but we have guys who are really unselfish," Jasper added. "Everyone's glued into a team atmosphere first."
Talk of the town
A local marketing group was part of a larger-than-normal crowd which showed up to see the Rebels practice on Thursday afternoon in preparation for Saturday's trip to face Santa Clara at 7 p.m.
The buzz created by the Rebels' resounding back-to-back victories over Louisville and Arizona wasn't just felt by the team in the gym.
Freshman guard Anthony Marshall said that once he logged on to his Facebook page upon returning to town late Wednesday night, he was swarmed with messages left for him and friends online looking to chat about the excitement.
He noted that at about 12:30 a.m. he had to force himself to shut the computer in need of sleep.
Not a bad problem to have.
"I've been getting text messages, e-mails, people writing me on Facebook. It's a buzz," he said. "That's credited to the hard work we've been putting in."
Getting the kinks out of the way
Neither Marshall nor fellow freshman Justin Hawkins made huge statistical dents on Wednesday night, and it was the first time playing single-digit minutes this season for both, but the experience from their combined 17 minutes in a raucous environment could prove quite valuable down the road.
"It's a big difference coming from high school, were you're a leader and have to do so much," Marshall said. "You're used to being out there, playing the whole game.
"Right when I got on the floor, I was playing point guard. Right away, the ball got in my hands. It was an intense environment. At the beginning, if I wasn't playing the point, I would have been playing real fast."
Discussion: 25 comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy.
Post a comment
Never can get enough UNLV analysis and chatter? Then this is the stop for you. Join the Sun sports staff in The Rebel Room for your fix.
Rebels down San Diego State in final minute
Follow the Rebels
Widgets
Jerry Tarkanian: Anthony Marshall is 'playing lights out'
Email Newsletters
To view/update your newsletter subscriptions and interests, please visit our Preference Center.
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Just got back in from Tucson!!! What a road trip There was 5 of us strong about 15 rows behind the Rebels bench. Hostile enviorment? ha seemed like just a bunch of pussycats to me. We were close to the student section and had all sorts of fun with them, the rest of the arena was filled with white hairs. (That place was nothing like the T&M) our student section is killing theirs! I guess that "boing boing boing pass" chant was kind of funny. Other than that it was a great place to watch a college bball game. The fans we sat around were all great boosters and very knowledgeable, must say they do love their "Cats". After the game had about 10 fans shake our hands and wished us all luck on the season (very classy I must say)we then went down by the court to listen to the wrap up on the rebels radio show and was able to hang out with Robert Smith and some of Kendall's (aka the scarlet sniper) family members. Then after Coach Lon was done with his interview he personally came up to our group and thanked us for making the trip and our support...This is one classy Man! Gave some of the kids high five's as they got in the bus then went down to grimaldies pizzaria for a "lil" post game celebration!! All the UofA fans we came across were great!!!! It's a great time to be a REBEL!!!! and this what college basketball is all about!!! Lets go rebels time to make a run at the top 10!!
Everybody is worried about 3 point shots, freethrows, certain players playing time, rebounds and shot selection... Don't worry we got a great coach to iron all that out it's only the first week of December we're not even close to peeking and trust me you don't want to start peeking to early. We have put ourselves in a great position to start this young season and the "beast" is yet to come!!
Coach's concerns are right on the money. We are finding ways to win which is what top 25 teams do but the shooting must improve. I do not think we have bad shooters we just have difficulty getting open looks for 3. Many of our threes are with a hand in our face. Got to create more open looks in rythym if we want more to go down. Best way to get good looks from 3 is in transition. Keep pushing it Rebels you are at your best when you are running. Runnin' Rebels!
Way to represent UNLV fkg! I find it unfortunate that some posters enjoy going to other team's message boards to just curse and harass them, while basically making our fan base look like a bunch of juvenile idiots. So thanks fkg for showing class up there, and representing us well!
I would respectfully disagree, Gumby. A large majority of these threes are wide-open, step in three-pointers that the offense allows for. Yes, there were a few forced shots (shot clock widing down, 2-3 more forced), but most are good shots. They just need to make them.
And I hope they do. The three is such an important part of the college game. Even against Arizona, from memory four of the five 3-pointers were big - Shaw's and Wallace's in the first-half answered big plays for Arizona. In the second half, Tre had a huge three and of course Jasper's.
Nice to hear the Coach letting the guys know something has to change. We'll see which way it goes. Nice to talk about these problems being 6-0 and ranked early in the season for the first time in 17 years! That was many pounds ago for this Runnin' Rebel fan.
I'll have to agree on the message board stuff with both sides getting into an interweb fight. It's funny if you ask me. As far as the 3's go, I'm sure they will be improving that and have 2 good chances the next 2 games. We will NEED 3's against Kansas St. fellas, gotta practice them soon! fkg, sounds like you had a lot of fun! Way to represent!
Also, 1 last thing...I think the Kansas St. game at the Orleans is sold out....
Just bought 4 tickets for the Orleans game. They available tickets are now in section 119, so it does appear they are going fast. Was section 101 yesterday, which is directly across. Neither good locations, but still get to see the game.
Just a few observations. The 3 pt. FG% will go up as the year goes on. I haven't looked at the stat margin on how many 3's the reb's are shooting per game but my over/under is around 25 give or take a few. If they were to get that number around the 18-20 mark within the confines of their offensive sets the % will increase. I hate to see guys pull the (3) on a 1 on 3 or a 2 on 4 fast break. If you are going to push the ball take it to the rack or wait for your teammates!! I can count at least 10 shots per game where the first shot in a possession is a (3) with 30 seconds left on the shot clock. That is a shot you can get at any time during your possession why take it then? We have ballers, things will be fine in the end and the shooting will come around it is just a matter of tweeking a few things here and there and it should be fixed IMO.
If the game at the Orleans is sold out, is there any chance they'll show it on TV?
The lack of TV coverage for the Rebels is pretty ridiculous. It's something like 5 straight games with no TV coverage. I don't know a whole heck of a lot about how it works (I'm talking to you The Moutain), but if the Rebels are ranked, somebody needs to get these games on TV. Having to watch Saturday's game on SantaClaraBroncos.com is wack. I bought an HDTV for a reason.
I agree JerryWayne. No TV for Santa Clara makes no sense at all! The game is a road game, so it won't be taking any revenue away from them by us fans at home watching it. Also if there is a feed for the game on their website, then there is a broadcast somewhere showing it..I dont care if I have to hear homers broadcasting it like the last Arizona game..just find a way to show it!
I know what you mean JerryWayne...but Louisville was on TV as was the Arizona game...I was at all the others so I don't know about any of the others..but yes I think we need to start being on CBS (that is allowed on our contract-New Mexico was on it)
@ betonblack
AVG 3's per game right now are 20.5
K-State is on ESPN Full Court, if you don't pay for the package but have COX internet, you can view that game for free at ESPN360.com.
Ryan- you sounded awful lonely on your podcast bud. Who do we email to get your partner in crime back. Anyways, did you get to talk to hawkins and marshall after the game? was wondering how nervous they felt, first big time away game of their careers. Wish they played a little more, i thought oscar was a little rattled in the first half and could have used more of a break.
runrebs,
We all do miss Rob, however you'll have to make do with me from here on out :) I promise it won't be very painful.
I did talk to Anthony yesterday after practice. He admitted to some butterflies in his stomach when he first hit the floor, but he said, which is quoted above, that him being at the point probably helped him settle in faster than normal, since he didn't have time to be nervous while controlling the offensive flow ... or at least trying to.
It was a brutal road atmosphere for him and Justin to get their first experience in, but in the long ru, it's probably better that way, no?
I wouldn't be shocked to see one of them step up on Saturday and have a big showing at Santa Clara, which will be almost a complete opposite from the craziness at the McKale Center.
I'm glad Lon's addressing the 3's issue early on with this team. The Rebels roster is stuffed with skilled shooters. But, I'm noticing that the team settles for rushed three point shots far too often. When they move the ball around, and play inside/outside in their offensive sets, good things happen. They also get more uncontested looks from the perimeter.
If the Rebs are denied the fast break, and settle into their half-court offense, they need to do everything they can to penetrate the lane. Then, they can either dish it back out or take it to the rack for possible 'and one' opportunities. The long ball should be option C at this point, unless someone on the Rebel squad goes sublime and starts shooting the lights out.
This team is far too deep and athletic to settle for three's they've so far been struggling to hit. With an eleven man rotation, they can afford to drive the lane on almost every possession, and still get back and play mid to full court defense for forty minutes.
It's a compliment to the Three Headed Monster (Massamba, Santee, and Shaw) that in a few short weeks, our concerns have shifted from them to our guard play. Although, the interior defense needs to pick it up some. Arizona's Williams torched them Wednesday, forcing The Monster to use up twelve of their fifteen fouls.
Great start to the season, Rebs. Keep it going Saturday night against Santa Clara!
Yes, the loss of Rob (and Ron and Steve - as well as other talented professionals at the Sun) certainly warrants mentioning. They covered the Rebels and sports (and other topics of importance) with great passion that produced great results.
I hope everyone joins me in wishing them well and hoping for the best for good people that have given all of us such excellent information and entertainment.
Do you have any specific examples, rocks, of what you believe were posters from our fanbase who misrepresented the school?
goazcats.com is a good example..same with the louisville rivals board as well...I'm all for basketball banter, but once you have your arguments based solely on name calling, thats when you lose all credibility.
Your previous comment was directed at posters affiliated with UNLV. Now, you give a link and a reference in your reply. What are you IMPLYING, rocks? In lamens terms, what are you REALLY trying to say?
well I don't have endless hours talking trash to other bball fans online, so here is only one page of your countless work..
http://forum.goazcats.com/showthread.php...
that being said, you do as you will. I just think conversing with people by calling them names doesn't make you own them....but thats just my opinion and you have yours.
im here in the bay area visiting family and even better, waiting for the game to start. My wife then asks me why am I searching for something for your links when I need to get the kids ready to get to the game..and she is right..so grayback, do you thing..and i will do mines...its all about the rebels anyway.
Unfortunately rocks, your plight is for naught. Obviously you have done a half-assed job researching those threads. Otherwise, you would've understood I was attempting to have a civil conversation about an upcoming basketball game with those folks. However, I had to come to the defense of my fellow Rebel fans, friends and the program itself after those people decided to start hurling insults and untruths. I never fired until fired upon.
Too bad you got in trouble with your wife for not being thorough. That's your fault. Enjoy the game.
I'm on to you rocks. You're internet saavy so that means you're either a lurker or a regular poster from RebelNet or here. You've singled me out, so the chances are good we've already had a run-in. Whatever the case, your behavior is cowardice.
I could care less if you're a Rebel fan or not. You seem alittle benedict arnold anyway.
Yep Grayback4life was definately trying to talk civilally about the game and then AZ fans were saying UNLV sucks and stuff so he went off..
grayback fought back. Kinda like hittin someone back when they hit you, what you should do..