Purdue’s weapon: The Corner Three

The most important shot in the arsenal of the nation’s most efficient offense: The corner three-pointer.

According to Purdue’s shot-chart data, the Boilermakers are 30-of-52 (57.7 percent) from the right corner and 24-of-58 (41.4) from the left, 54-of-110 total. That’s 49.1 percent.

That’s exceptional efficiency in spots on the floor essential to Purdue’s offense, for a few reasons.

OFFENSIVE SPACING

The corners are very important from a sideline-to-sideline spacing perspective and the likeliest position opponents will send help from in pick-and-roll offense, a prime target for Braden Smith‘s kick-outs and cross-court passing and Trey Kaufman-Renn‘s short-roll pass-outs.

“Other teams are so mindful of Braden and Trey’s pick-and-roll that a lot of them are going to help off the corner,” said CJ Cox, one of those who’ve lived off the corners this season, “and that allows Braden to get that skip pass to us or TK to kick out to us off the short roll if they help up.”

COUNTERING HELP DEFENSE

In traditional post-up offense, more and more defenses — Purdue among them, on occasion — are doubling from the baseline, with the defender most likely to be leaving a corner open.

“It makes people make choices,” offensive play-caller P.J. Thompson said.

The corner is where defenses are going to send from, also, against pick-and-roll offense, to pinch down to stop Smith with the ball or come out to meet Kaufman-Renn on his short-roll touches.

IN-BOUND OFFENSE

In its baseline in-bound offense, Purdue frequently in-bounds to a shooter curling off a screen, hoping for either an open three or driving opportunity; Fletcher Loyer and Cox are normally the in-bound recipients.

Loyer has been lethal on baseline drives off shot fakes in the corner. Cox has generated a few mid-range jumpers off the in-bound action. Slipping a big man to the rim off such looks has worked often this season, too.

The corner three is different from other spots on the floor. When you’re shooting from the corner, the ball is almost always coming from elsewhere. For college guards who grew up almost always having the ball in their hands, it might not be their most commonly attempted shot.

But Purdue dedicates significant time to its players shooting from all points around the arc — five minutes of nothing but three-point shoot-around time at the end of every practice.

“It’s not science,” Loyer said. “It’s repetition and preparation.”

The importance of this particular spot isn’t lost on them.

“A lot of kids don’t understand spacing and what it does,” Thompson said. “Everybody wants the ball and is eager to make plays. But we preach it: The ball is going to find you when you’re in the right spots. When you have great players who are going to require a lot of attention, if you can just be disciplined in your spacing, read the floor and hear what the game is telling you, more often that not, you’re the guy who’d getting the shot.”

And …

“If you watch the NBA, there are guys who get paid a lot of money to fill the corners,” Thompson said. “Kids who watch a lot of basketball know that.”

Purdue’s primary corner shooters (per Synergy Sports).
• CJ Cox: 14-31
• Fletcher Loyer: 9-20
• Braden Smith: 7-9
• Omer Mayer: 8-12

The shot does come with slight complication. That sideline is like a game of “Operation” for those who might not be keenly aware of their feet’s positioning.

And shooting from the corners can often reshuffle transition-defense cadences, if the designated “safety” (normally the deepest player, often the shooting guard) relocates into the corner, out of transition-defense position.