Right now, we have two guys (Demps and Mac) attempting more than half our shots when they're in the game (which is almost all the time), and they've been two of the worst shooters in the B1G during conference play so far. Demps, in fact, is the worst shooter with an effective FG% of 35.6 during B1G play. That's 54th out of 54 qualifying players. He's at 19% on 3s and has attempted the second-most 3s of anyone in the B1G in conference play, just behind Falzon.
What's odd is that Demps was actually one of the best shooters in B1G play last year, with an eFG% of 56.2, which ranked 6th in the league. He wasn't very good two years ago, so who knows where he's "supposed" to be with this. He certainly should be better, and maybe it's inevitable he will be better going forward because it's hard to continue to be this bad.
Mac, however, hasn't been much better this year at 40.6 eFG%, which is 48th of 54 in the B1G. He's awesome as a distributor and has had a handful of great scoring games, but he was a better shooter last year. In fact, he performed quite well against tier A teams (top-50 teams regardless of game location or top-100 teams on the road) last year (105.1 ORtg, 50% eFG, 33% on 3s), while this year he's struggled in those games (91.2 ORtg, 31% eFG, 6%(!) on 3s)
So, what we need on offense is either for these two guys to just shoot better, or for certain other guys to get more shots. Pardon and Falzon, for instance, have been our best offensive players in conference games. Pardon's ORtg is 131.1 (10th best of 91 qualifiers in the B1G during league play), while Falzon's is 117.7. Demps' is a dreadful 85.8 (82nd in the B1G).
I guess the point is this: Demps and Mac have been horrible shooters in conference play and we're still 3-4, so it could be worse, and it seems likely they will eventually shoot better. But both are also playing more minutes than they did last year, which could be a contributing factor to their decline this year.
What's odd is that Demps was actually one of the best shooters in B1G play last year, with an eFG% of 56.2, which ranked 6th in the league. He wasn't very good two years ago, so who knows where he's "supposed" to be with this. He certainly should be better, and maybe it's inevitable he will be better going forward because it's hard to continue to be this bad.
Mac, however, hasn't been much better this year at 40.6 eFG%, which is 48th of 54 in the B1G. He's awesome as a distributor and has had a handful of great scoring games, but he was a better shooter last year. In fact, he performed quite well against tier A teams (top-50 teams regardless of game location or top-100 teams on the road) last year (105.1 ORtg, 50% eFG, 33% on 3s), while this year he's struggled in those games (91.2 ORtg, 31% eFG, 6%(!) on 3s)
So, what we need on offense is either for these two guys to just shoot better, or for certain other guys to get more shots. Pardon and Falzon, for instance, have been our best offensive players in conference games. Pardon's ORtg is 131.1 (10th best of 91 qualifiers in the B1G during league play), while Falzon's is 117.7. Demps' is a dreadful 85.8 (82nd in the B1G).
I guess the point is this: Demps and Mac have been horrible shooters in conference play and we're still 3-4, so it could be worse, and it seems likely they will eventually shoot better. But both are also playing more minutes than they did last year, which could be a contributing factor to their decline this year.
