Rhode Island Basketball: Breaking down the Rams’ struggles
By Dave Ascoli
3-Point Shooting
Be warned: some of the numbers you’re about to see are NSFW. If you’re under 18, please close your browser now. Because this is some grisly stuff.
Rhode Island is shooting 26.0% from 3-point range on the season, good for 349th in the country. Out of…*checks notes*…353. It’s not what you want. Fatts Russell, Rhody’s starting shooting guard, is hitting on just 17.7% of his shots from downtown, which may be the most shocking number of all. Russell dazzled the nation last year as he drilled big three after big three throughout the season and into the NCAA Tournament. His percentages have never been off the charts, but there’s no indication that he’s as bad as this season’s numbers.
Which means that water should find it’s level eventually for the Rams… right? Yes, they lost some serious shooting firepower when guys like Jared Terrell, E.C. Matthews, and Jarvis Garrett graduated. But the Rhody offense is, for the most part, generating open looks from deep. They certainly did against George Mason. They just couldn’t connect on any of them, going 3-for-25 from long range. Yeesh.
A remedy for this sure isn’t easy. A coach can’t exactly tell players to pass up open shots. What Cox can do is ride a hot hand on a game-by-game basis…provided one emerges. Other than that, it’s up to the players to continue to work on their craft and their shot selection. An improvement from beyond the arc will cure a lot of what ails the Rams this season.