STrib: A glitch amid the Gophers' great start: guarding 3s

per Marcus:

No longer can Richard Pitino deny that his team has a problem defending beyond the arc. The numbers are too stacked against Minnesota's basketball team to believe otherwise.

The Gophers are off to a 4-0 start and improved offensively, but the team is worse at defending the three-point shot than they were a year ago.

Entering Tuesday's game against Alabama A&M at Williams Arena, Minnesota ranks 12th in the Big Ten and 333rd out of 351 Division I teams in three-point percentage defense. Opponents are making almost every other three-point shot (44.7 percent shooting). Last season, Pitino's team led the Big Ten and ranked 15th nationally holding teams to just 30.9 percent shooting from long distance.

"I thought our defense was bad in the first half," Pitino said about Sunday's 92-64 win against Western Carolina. "At some point you're going to have to get burnt. Alabama had a kid (John Petty) who hit 10 threes the other day. So you're going to have to trust the defense behind you. You're going to have to get your hand up. At some point, it's not just (bad) luck, it's bad defense."

http://www.startribune.com/a-glitch-amid-the-gophers-great-start-guarding-3s/458899423/

Go Gophers!!

Things like this tend to even out. Let's just hope Western Carolina shooting 50% means Mich St. will shoot 11% when we play them.

I think it's just a result of some guys getting hot.

Generally, I would think that's how you would approach the lesser competition. Make them show they can beat you from outside. With our size and defensive length (Lynch, Murphy, Coffey), you can really take the paint away from these smaller and less athletic teams.

It is something of note, but I'll start to get really worried if it continues against Alabama and Miami coming up.

Pitino has stated that the offense is ahead of the defense this season. We are not defending well at the moment. Hopefully that improves before we get to the heart of the B1G.

I'd be less concerned if the 3-point looks were contested and went in, but a majority of them have been wide open after a defensive breakdown. It needs to get cleaned up by Big Ten play. A guy drives the lane and a weak-side defender slides over or reaches in for a steal attempt, and abandons his guy, who then makes a three.

Other times they're not communicating through screens. A guard tries to go under a screen and gives up a three, or the defender can't fight through it or hedge, and there's an open shot. You can get away with it against directional schools because we have better players & athletes. It's a mix of communicating and hustling. I expect it to get better soon, because they won't beat Alabama or Miami if they play like that, and they'll be the first to admit it.

I'd also like to see more pressure on the guard handling the ball, make them play faster than they want to and make tougher decisions. That will result in turnovers and forced shots.

Eh, I'm really not worried about this yet.

If teams take and make a lot of 3s against the Gophers, they might beat them. I'll take an entire season of college kids shooting 3s though as I know they are consistent or very good at it as a whole.