Shooting woes an issue for VCU, but Smart sees change coming
The VCU men’s basketball team is 323rd in overall field goal percentage out of 342 Division I college basketball teams.
Sophomore guard Rob Brandenberg is averaging 9.7 points per game so far this season. (Photo by Kyle LaFerriere)
Jim Swing
Sports Editor
Commonwealth Times’ Sports Twitter
The VCU men’s basketball team is 323rd in overall field goal percentage out of 342 Division I college basketball teams.
Go ahead and reread that, because it’s not a typo, it’s a fact. Even more chilling? The Rams’ current 37 percent shooting percentage sits dead last in the Colonial Athletic Association.
And that’s not saying they’ve look bad at all so far this season, but VCU’s shooting woes have certainly been an issue.
“You’d always like shots to go in and if you look at our percentages, we’re not shooting the ball as well from three or two as we did last year but that’s a couple things,” head coach Shaka Smart said. “Number one we have a younger team that just doesn’t have the same experience taking some of the shots we’ve taken.”
There’s no doubt last year’s team had a way of finding high quality shots in all spots of the floor. Not to mention the inside out play of Jamie Skeen that afforded VCU tons of open looks.
If that’s not enough, maybe this is. The Rams hit 339 three-point field goals in 40 games last season, the most ever in VCU history. That group of guys undoubtedly had a way of finding quality shots.
But Smart believes in this year’s group. It’s just a small stint in the growth of a long season.
“I think there’s going to be games where we definitely shoot better but the other thing is when we had really experienced guards last year,” Smart said. “They got guys higher quality shots and Darius is starting to learn, he’s doing a better job of that but he’s got a long way to go.”
And it starts in practice, where Smart said he’s been seeing tons of improvement.
“We have shot better in practice,” he said. “So I think that’s a good sign I think it’s going to come for us.”
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Just for fun here’s a list of some of the best all-time shooters in VCU history:
Field goal percentage
1. Bernard Hopkins (1994-96) .571
2. Randy Corker (1981-1983) .561
3. George Byrd (1993-97) .557
4. Mike Schlegel (1981-85) .551
5. Lorenza Watson (1975-79) .547
