Baylor Basketball: Why Bears get so many shots blocked in 2019-20 season

Offensive Rebounding?

What’s driving Baylor’s poor offensive block percentage? One theory centers around arguably the Bears’ biggest statistical strength: offensive rebounding. Baylor’s offense has grabbed 35.9% of its misses (6th nationally). Offensive rebounds tend to be grabbed in a crowd, so perhaps the quick putbacks that often follow are more likely to be blocked than the average shot?

This makes some sense and is likely a contributing factor, but it’s far from a perfect idea. The aforementioned Navy Midshipmen is also a strong offensive rebounding squad (24th-best), which does support the theory.

However, Houston, the 2nd-best offensive rebounding team (38.9%), has had its shots blocked less than ANY OTHER squad in college basketball (5.6%). This is a bit perplexing, and It’s not as if the Cougars have been avoiding blocks by chucking a ton of threes either (only 246th in attempt rate).

3-point shooting?

The idea that heavy 3-point shooting teams get their shots blocked less makes some sense as well. Threes clearly get blocked less than shots in the paint, but that being said, embracing the long ball hasn’t prevented teams from ALSO having a high block rate.

Saint Joseph’s, the team that gets its shots blocked THE MOST in college basketball, has attempted threes at the 5th-highest rate in the nation (49.6%). How is this even possible? Baylor has attempted threes at an average rate (187th), so it’s not as if the offense only shoots in the paint for example.