Dontaie Allen hit two 3-pointers against LSU and is shooting 44 percent from long range this season. (SEC Photo)
Alabama has become one of the nation’s hottest teams this season with a simple offensive philosophy — just 3-pointers or layups. Don’t worry about anything else. Going into tonight’s game with Kentucky, Alabama has won nine straight games and has two SEC wins by 30 or more points. Alabama has won at Tennessee and Kentucky, the two SEC preseason favorites.
Kentucky assistant coach Bruiser Flint said Monday that Alabama likes the style the Tide have and recruits players for that style even though this is just his second year at Alabama.
“If he didn’t have the players to do it, I doubt he would shoot a lot of 3’s or he probably wouldn’t have his job really long. But they’ve got the personnel to do it that way and I think that’s his philosophy,” Flint said.
“He’s a coach that likes to shoot a lot of 3-point shots, so what you try to do is you try to recruit to that personnel. If you don’t have that type of personnel and you play that way, you’re defeating the purpose of what you’re trying to do. But it’s a good combination of that’s the way he wants to play and he has the players to do it.”
Compare that to Kentucky which is shooting 28 percent from 3-point range and has made just 68 3’s in 14 games. Forty of the 68 makes have been by Dontaie Allen and Davion Mintz. Allen is hitting 44 percent from long range but Mintz is at 32 percent, Brandon Boston 18 percent, Devin Askew 26 percent, Olivier Sarr 33 percent and Keion Brooks 25 percent. Isaiah Jackson and Jacob Toppin are a combined 0-for-7 from 3.
Kentucky did start the game at LSU by making five of first eight 3-pointers but then made only two of the next 18. The Cats scored 49 points the first half, their best of the season, but then only 33 the second half — which is about average.
Flint is hoping UK is “somewhere in between” the team that opened 5-for-8 but closed 2-for-18.
“But, we’re not Alabama. We’re not going to shoot a million 3-point shots. That’s not what we do. But I’m hoping that we’re in between. Shoot a decent percentage from the 3-point line. That’s all I ask. Sometimes you’re really hot, sometimes you’re really cold,” Flint said.
“That’s the thing about 3s -– it’s a little bit of fool’s gold. You can feel good about it one day and the next day you can’t make one. But I hope that we’re in the middle, that we shoot a decent percentage, but I also know that Cal really believes in having some post presence. He thinks that’s a big deal, so this team probably won’t shoot a whole bunch of 3-point shots.”
Three-point shooting is not fool’s gold for UK. The Cats can’t make them and that’s why a high scoring game is hard for UK to win. Other than Allen, there’s no high degree of confidence any UK player is going to consistently hit a 3-pointer.
“Only thing we ask is that guys shoot them when they’re open. We don’t want guys to shoot forced 3’s. We’ll have our stretches where we’ll be pretty good at that and sometimes we don’t, but as long as you’re open, as long as they’re good 3-point shots …” Flint said.
