Dialing Long Distance Gu Has Come To Rely On Ability To Sink 3-Pointers; Rillie, Kinloch Lead Way
Could Gonzaga coach Dan Fitzgerald ever have imagined that one of his teams would launch 548 3-point attempts in a season?
Not by a long shot.
Does he like the trend?
When they go in, yeah. Although sometimes he gets a little hot about a few of those, too.
They have fallen in with stunning regularity this season as the Bulldogs have come a long way by shooting from great distance.
“We want our kids to shoot 3s,” said Fitzgerald, whose team plays its first NCAA Tournament game tonight against Maryland at Salt Lake City. “Our 3s are rarely bad shots. We don’t run a lot of stuff specifically for 3s, but we mostly say, if it’s there, take it.”
It’s been there, they’ve taken it, and Gonzaga has won 21 games largely because of it.
In 1987, the year the shot was instituted, the Bulldogs made 34 of 91 3-pointers. This year, one player, John Rillie, made more 3- pointers (93) than that entire 1987 team attempted.
Has it become a way of life at GU?
Consider these facts:
GU has led the West Coast Conference in 3-point percentage seven of the last eight seasons, averaging better than 40 percent each of those years.
Kentucky, nationally recognized as a deadly 3-point shooting team, has taken 99 more 3-point attempts than GU, but made only 18 more than the Bulldogs, leaving the Wildcats’ 37.7 percent success rate considerably lower than Gonzaga’s 41.2.
The entire Atlantic Coast Conference had three players connect on 44.4 percent or better from 3-point range. GU has three starters above that.
Thirty-six percent of GU’s shots this season have come from 3-point range.
To match GU’s 41.2 percent 3-point shooting, an opponent would need to sink nearly 62 percent from inside the arc.
By making 22 3-pointers against San Francisco, the Bulldogs had the second-highest output in NCAA Division I play this season (Troy State netted 28 in one game).
Fitzgerald cited several reasons for the reliance on perimeter marksmen.
“One, we know we’re not going to get (the ball) back a lot,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re not going to steal it much and we’re not going to kill you in rebounds, so we’re like the guys at the Alamo - we have to make every shot count.
“The other thing is, it’s a skill you can recruit and it’s a skill you can teach,” he said. “We work hard on teaching shooting.”
The most prolific practitioner of the art at GU is Rillie, who netted 93 of 206 3-pointers for 45.1 percent and was named the national winner of the AT&T Long Distance Award for 3-pointers during the final third of the season.
“I think it’s just become more a part of the game now,” Rillie said of the barrage of 3s. “Now, a 10-point lead with a couple minutes left is no longer a certain win, as we’ve seen in the last couple weeks.”
Rillie has been devastating from past the arc, making 20 of 28 in three WCC Tournament games, and having at least five successful 3s in nine of GU’s 29 games.
The arc is 19 feet, 9 inches from the basket and bends around the key like the outline of a smooth, bald head. And that distance is hardly a stretch for today’s shooters.
“It’s a makeable shot; it really isn’t a bad shot,” said Rillie, who frequently retreats to 25 feet or more to get room to launch. “So it’s become a definite weapon for some teams - like us. A lot of the smaller, quicker teams go to it because they don’t have the big guys to get it inside to.”
The Bulldogs have used the fact that shooters have the green light as a recruiting tool, too. Lorenzo Rollins, who will be an incoming junior from Tacoma Community College next season, has made close to 50 percent of his 3-point attempts. GU landed Rollins over some heavyweight programs, including UNLV.
“I’m sure they can use that as a (recruiting) pitch, saying, ‘Rillie gets to shoot this many and we’re looking at you to fill his shoes.”’ Rillie said.
Kinloch is GU’s other prime perimeter threat, having made 55 of 121 for 45.5 percent.
“It’s consistent with the type of players we get here,” Kinloch said. “We tend to have a little less of the athlete and a little more of the intelligent player. And, consistently, if you look at most 3-point shooters, they’re not usually the great athlete. The great athletes are always slashing to the basket, whereas the lesser athletes have to be able to shoot.”
And to be willing to practice it. “You have to have good technique first, because you can practice all you want, but if you have bad technique, it will inhibit your chances of becoming a good shooter,” Kinloch said. “After that, it’s just flat-out a lot of practice.”
In some ways, Kinloch sees it as a bad influence on young players, as “a lot of them come into the gym and are trying to heave it up from way out there before they learn to shoot close to the basket.”
One thing a 3-point shooter must not be is bashful. Rillie and Kinloch have taken shots this season that seem to have been wildly imprudent, only to see them drop in.
Kinloch recalls down the stretch in one close game, getting open for a very deep 3 and hearing Fitzgerald scream “NO!!!!!!!!” the entire time he elevated for the shot.
It dropped and broke the other team’s spirit. “He still didn’t think it was a good shot,” Kinloch said.
“It’s a fine line,” Kinloch said, not referring specifically to the painted arc. “You have to go on time and circumstances and learn when is a good time and when isn’t. Really, the only consensus we can see is that it’s a good shot if it goes in.”
xxxx Bombs away GU 3-point production by years: Year 3FGM 3FGA PCT 1987 34 91 37.4 1988 76 163 46.6* 1989 119 262 45.4* 1990 94 216 43.5* 1991 128 344 37.2 1992 112 270 41.5* 1993 127 314 40.4* 1994 186 460 40.4* 1995 226 548 41.2* * Led West Coast Conference in 3-point percentage