Dontaie Allen has as many 3-point field goals as Brandon Boston, Terrence Clarke and Devin Askew combined with 56 less attempts and 1,000 fewer minutes played. (SEC Photo)
It’s not like John Calipari has never had a star player who could not make a 3-point shot. Think back to the two previous seasons when teams often dared point guard Ashton Hagans to take a 3-point shot. Last year he missed 46 of the 62 3-pointers he made. That came out to a 25.8 percent accuracy rate.
That was not the worst a star player has shot from long range in Calipari’s 12 seasons.
Think back to Michael Kidd-Gilchrist during UK’s 2012 national championship season. He made only 25.4 percent (13 of 51) of his 3-point tries.
Even that was not the worst mark. Going into this season the worst percentage belonged to De’Aaron Fox in 2017 when he missed 52 of 69 3’s and shot 24.6 percent. Of course, Fox just signed a deal worth about $160 million with Sacramento.
There were some atrocious 3-point shooters before Calipari arrived. Antoine Walker hit 18.7 percent on UK’s 1996 national championship team and DeAndre Liggins was a 23.5 percent shooter the year before Calipari arrived. Going back to the Eddie Sutton era in 1987, the late Ed Lavender made only 25.4 percent of his 3-pointers.
Why does that matter? Because this year Kentucky has two 3-point shooters worse than any of those players so far.
In 15 games, Brandon Boston has made only nine of 50 3-pointers, an 18 percent mark. Terrence Clarke has played in just seven games but he’s missed 17 of 22 3’s, a 22.7 percent accuracy rate.
If that’s not bad enough, Devin Askew has hit only nine of 35 3’s, a 25.7 percent mark.
Combined that trio is 23 of 106, a 21.5 percent accuracy rate combined. Any wonder Kentucky is 5-10.
Kentucky has three players shooting under 26 percent from 3-point range this season. In the previous 34 years, only six Cats TOTAL had shot 26 percent or less.
You can be as athletic as you want but making shots still means a lot. Dontaie Allen has played 213 total minutes compared to 1,222 combined minutes for Boston, Askew and Clarke. Allen has taken only 50 3-pointers. Guess what? He’s made 23, the same number that trio has with 1,009 more minutes and 56 more attempts.
