Men’s Basketball Lives and Dies By Three-Point Shot

After ranking twelfth in the entire nation last season in three-point percentage at an astonishing clip of 40.2 percent, the Lions have struggled at times behind the three-point line. This season, the club is shooting a reasonable 33 percent from behind the line, ranking them fifth in the league. This problem was even more noticeable this past weekend in their split against Harvard and Dartmouth.

Against the Crimson, the Lions were able to manage a win, despite not making a three-point shot. A season ago, this would have clearly resulted in a loss. However, this team has clearly matured—realizing that they will not shoot 40 percent or higher every night.

“This team is a much different team than last year’s team,” coach Joe Jones stated. “This is a much better defensive team. This is a team that can grind out wins. Last year we had to outshoot you in order to win.”

The reason that Columbia was able to grind out the Harvard game was because of clamping down on defense as well as the interior presence of John Baumann and Ben Nwachukwu. While Baumann provides nearly 17 points and seven rebounds on a consistent basis, Nwachukwu has been less consistent. Thus, the 20 points and 11 rebounds he contributed last Friday night helped erase Columbia’s 0-for-12 shooting from behind the three-point line.

Also, the percentage of three-point shots in that game was reasonable. The Lions took 52 overall shots, and twelve threes—meaning a three-point percentage of 23.1 percent, which is well below the 42 percent of their total shots that were three-pointers. A lot of times this number is skewed because they fall behind and continue to shoot threes.

The following night against Dartmouth, the Lions shot a pedestrian 4-for-19 from behind the arc (21.1 percent)—with two of the three-pointers being made by K.J. Matsui. However, when the Lions fell behind early, they relied heavily on the three, taking 39.6 percent of their shots from behind the line.

This trend is something that has been noticed all season. When the Lions win in the Ivy League, they possess a good balance between two-point shots and three-pointers. In seven wins, Columbia has attempted 325 shots, 102 of which were threes. This is a reasonable percentage—31.4 percent of total shots being three pointers. And, in these games, the Lions make a solid 35.3 percent of the threes.

However, when they lose, it appears that they rely too heavily on three pointers. In contrast to the 31.4 percent mark of three-pointers in total shots, 37.1 percent of the Lions’ shots are three-pointers—which is still better than the overall season. Further, they hit their shots at a 32.3 percent clip—lower than in the wins.

Maybe the perspective is skewed because every single Lion—with the exception of Matsui—shot a higher percentage from three-point line in the 2006-07 campaign, and the expectations may have been too high. Regardless, the Lions have found new ways to win games. And, if they can pull off two more this weekend at Penn and Princeton— which will definitely be no small feat—they finish the season with the most total Ivy victories, with nine total, since the 1992-93 Columbia team won 10.