Columbia cooling off from 3-point range

For most teams, 37.3 percent shooting from beyond the arc isn’t too bad. But for Columbia, who led the nation in 3-point percentage after its first 12 games, 37.3 percent is not acceptable.

Throughout its game against American University on Jan. 4, the Light Blue (9-15, 3-7 Ivy) shot lights-out from long range, knocking down 48.2 percent of its shots. Since then, the Lions have made a meager 27.7 percent from 3-point land, resulting in a 3-9 record for the past 12 games.

Columbia has been particularly hurt in the Ivy League by its decreased accuracy from beyond the arc, as the Lions have dropped seven of their 10 games so far in conference play. In its three wins, the Light Blue is shooting 46.5 percent from long, but in its seven losses, it is only shooting 19.6 percent.

In one of their more recent losses, a 48-44 defeat at Dartmouth on Friday, the Lions made only two of their 23 treys.

“Two-for-23, it’s a little discouraging,” head coach Joe Jones said after the loss. “Just couldn’t make open jumpers when we were left open.”

A major reason why the Light Blue shot so poorly was its 3-point specialists, senior guard Niko Scott and sophomore guard Noruwa Agho, who combined to go 2-for-15 from 3-point land.
“Our 3-point shot, we rely on it a lot,” Scott said after the Dartmouth game. “Me and Noruwa, we’re depended on to make a good amount of those shots that we get.”

Columbia’s dependence on Scott and Agho is understandable. Two weekends ago, Scott knocked down seven of his nine 3-point attempts en route to a career-high 29 points in the Light Blue’s win at Penn. This season, Scott has a 42.2 3-point shooting percentage and just moved into the all-time top 10 for 3-pointers made by Columbia players (127).

Agho, too, has shot extremely well from long range this season, nailing 46.4 percent of his shots. In fact, Agho led the nation in 3-point shooting for a while early this season, as he was shooting 59 percent heading into the Lions’ Jan. 11 match-up with St. Francis. Agho now sits at No. 24 in the nation.

The Light Blue opened its conference slate with three straight losses—two to Cornell and one to Harvard. In those three games, Columbia was limited to just 19.4 percent from beyond the arc. During that three-game stretch, Scott and Agho combined to go just 3-for-17 from long.

After Columbia’s Jan. 23 loss to Cornell, senior point guard Patrick Foley attributed the Lions poor 3-point shooting (26.7 percent) to the Big Red’s defense and to a lack of ball movement on the part of the Light Blue.

“I think they do a good job of really taking you out of your game on defense,” Foley said. “But it’s on ourselves, too. We got to look to share the ball a little more, try and get some inside-outs, and some drive-and-kicks a little bit, which we haven’t been doing in the past two games, so it’s a little combination of both.”

When asked about his team’s 3-point shooting after the same loss to Cornell, Jones had a similar opinion.

“I was just really disappointed in our offense tonight because we didn’t move the ball at all,” Jones said. “We didn’t make them work.”

However, in their fourth Ancient Eight contest, the Lions got the ball moving and were able to defeat Dartmouth 63-51, thanks to a 61.5 3-point shooting percentage.

“I feel like we have some good shooters,” Scott said after the win at Dartmouth. “I think that’s evident. The thing I feel like we sometimes lack is that little bit of focus, to see the guy that’s wide open, or set the screen to get the guy open. … So we came in with the concentration that our bread and butter is our ability to shoot the ball from long, so that was really something that we were cognizant about coming into the game.”

Scott combined with Agho to knock down 12 treys that game.

After winning their next game against Brown, the Lions suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Yale, 79-64. In that contest, the Light Blue made only 12.5 percent of their shots from long. Agho was 1-for-7 and Scott was 1-for-4.

“You know, I’m going to miss,” Agho said after the game. “I’m not going to be able to shoot 70 percent the whole season.”

And he’s right—the Light Blue cannot rely solely on Agho and Scott. Part of the reason why Agho’s 3-point shooting percentage has dropped is because opposing defenses are starting to key in on him, limiting the number of good shots he gets.

However, the Light Blue’s 3-point shooting has improved since the Yale game. With the exception of their game against Dartmouth, the Lions have shot 48.5 percent from beyond the arc since then. If Columbia maintains this level of shooting, it may be able to scrape a .500 record.