It can be as tempting as a pecan pie recently pulled from the oven. It also can be just as bad for you. That is the truth about the three-point shot.
Of course, it’s still the quickest way to break down a defense, run up the score or cut into a deficit larger than the national debt.
But it also can be the sirens singing from the rocks, the punch line to that old question about what do you know when you buy a Rolex on the street corner for 10 bucks. Answer: You know it’s fake.
The three-pointer is valuable only when a player learns which is a lethal weapon and which is a blunt knife, and that is a learning process all of them must endure.
“It’s hard. We’re living proof that it’s a process,” Marquette coach Tom Crean said Saturday, and then he chuckled ruefully.
Here’s why. Last week, in their opening two games of the Big East season, his Golden Eagles fell meekly to Providence and Syracuse, which lured them to defeat with tightly packed 2-3 zones. Crean’s team launched 44 threes and made only eight.
But then at No. 24 Connecticut on Wednesday night, they took only 10 threes, reignited their defense and work on the boards to snap the Huskies’ 31-game home winning streak with a four-point victory.
That set the stage for the Golden Eagles’ Saturday return to the Bradley Center, where their judicious and refined shot selection against a zone drove them to an 81-63 rout of No. 21 West Virginia.
This was an impressive performance by Marquette (15-4, 2-2), which earned much of its victory the old-fashioned way. It grabbed 40 rebounds to the Mountaineers’ 26 and held the Mountaineers (13-3, 3-2) to 38.8 percent shooting overall, 22.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Part of it, however, also was earned by a still-developing offensive maturity, which it lacked in its losses to the Friars and the Orange. That is why Saturday it shot 52.7 percent overall (29 of 55), 57.1 percent on its threes (8 of 14) and forced the Mountaineers to abandon the 1-3-1 they normally play.
“Without sounding corny, that’s what we’ve tried to really harp on. Let’s focus on the process of how we attack and not be worried as much about if that shot went in, if this shot went in,” Crean said Saturday.
“If we’re getting the right shots, if we’re getting the right drives and angles, then we have a chance to make plays. This week we’ve done that. Last week we didn’t do as good a job of that.”
They did more of what they wanted to do.
More Top Picks Rupes Vs Flex Polishers
“You can settle anytime for what an opponent gives you,” said Jerel McNeal, the guard out of Hillcrest High. “But a great offensive team puts pressure on the defense and gets the shot it wants. . . . Most people look at it, `OK, we have to take what the defense gives us.’ But we have to come out and say, `We’re going to get the shot we want regardless of what you do.’
“I definitely think that’s what we’re learning. We’re learning how to get the shots we want, to go from good shots to great shots. There’s just that little bit of difference. But it’s really helping us mature a lot more and changing this team’s versatility.”
This is yet a relatively young Marquette team and its foundation is still its defense, which often ignites its running game and reaps easy baskets. It operates best when able to do that because it is not, despite its gaudy stats Saturday, littered with pure and reliable shooters. That assures these Golden Eagles will see more zones in the future, which is why it was important to their future that they exhibit the growth they did on this day.
Marquette probed and kicked, and that helped guard Dominic James escape a slump and score 21 points while going 8 of 17 overall and 3 of 5 on his threes. It rotated the ball and found the open man, and that allowed guard David Cubillan to come off the bench and score 14 while going 5 of 5 overall and 4 of 4 on threes.
The Golden Eagles regularly took the shot they desired rather than accept the shot given them, and that is what finally assured them an easy victory.
“We’re not about not creating comfort for [the players] to play,” Crean said. “We just want to make sure they understand, `You might have a good shot, but one more pass makes it a great shot.’
“That’s what’s hard. It’s not selfishness. It’s just not understanding that that’s how we play best.”
———-