Gonzaga Basketball has consistently been one of the best offenses in college basketball. That includes the shooting aspect, where they’ve consistently been a top-5 team in terms of efficiency. However, one area the Bulldogs have been declining in is at the three-point line. They went from a consistent top-tier team to more in the middle, ranking 97th this past season at 35%.
The Bulldogs' losses of the top three-point shooters—Nolan Hickman (45% 3PT), Ryan Nembhard (40%), Khalif Battle (35%), and Dusty Stromer (34%)—complicate matters in terms of having good shooters. Up until last week, these are the returning players and their past 3-point percentages.
Graham Ike – 39% (13/33)
Braden Huff – 28% (9/32)
Emmanuel Innocenti – 29% (10/34)
Jalen Warley – 29% (20/68 in 3 years at FSU)
Braeden Smith – 33% (87/264 in 2 years at Colgate)
The best-returning shooter on the team is Steele Venters, who shot around 40% from deep in three years at Eastern Washington. However, having missed the past two years with injuries, it’s hard to count on him to provide that spacing on the floor. Gonzaga hopes that its lone offseason transfer pickup can be the needed sharpshooter.
Adam Miller is a former top-60 prospect who attended Illinois and LSU before spending his last two years at Arizona State. He has a career 10 ppg average and 115 starts, but in his first three years, he was known as an efficient offensive player.
This past season, Miller averaged 9.8 ppg and 1.9 apg, shooting career-highs 43% from the field and 43% from deep at 4.4 attempts per game. The 6’3 guard had seven games of at least 15 points, including 22 in double-overtime against Texas Tech. Miller also had eight outings of at least three made three-pointers as well.
Adding Miller gives Gonzaga its likely starting shooting guard for next season, with Smith, Innocenti, Huff, and Ike the other starters. We’ll see if last season wasn’t a fluke for Miller, as the Bulldogs’ shooting potential relies on it.