HOUSTON – Lately, 3-point shooting and Golden State have become synonymous. The Splash Brothers, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, have electrified the basketball audience with their quick release and inability to miss.
Golden State’s monopoly on the perimeter shot is a direct result of practice. Sure, Thompson and Curry are talented, but to shoot with such rhythmic perfection as this duo does requires muscle memory and therefore practice, and lots of it.
Curry and Thompson are long done with their collegiate careers, but their practices, more specifically Thompson’s shooting drills, has navigated its way into the practices of Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield and North Carolina’s Marcus Paige and Joel Berry.
Thompson’s drill is simple: shoot from beyond the arc, changing locations, until you miss two consecutive shots.
News of Thompson’s drill trickled down to Oklahoma’s coaching staff and Boomer Sooner Hield took up the drill. Soon after, the Tar Heels caught news of the drill.
Next thing you know, the Oklahoma star and two Tar Heels engaged in a 3-point contest.
The Results:
*Buddy Hield: 142
*Marcus Paige: 156
*Buddy Hield: 197
*Joel Berry: 251
What are the numbers for the inventors of the drill?
*Steph Curry: 122
*Klay Thompson: 76
While the college players were shooting college 3’s, their numbers are still impressive. Berry’s number, 251 consecutive 3’s, that’s just, well superb.
Berry has evolved into a dynamic offensive threat, lethal both along the perimeter and in the paint. But Paige, not Berry is known as Carolina’s 3-point shooter.
Paige holds the record for career 3’s made at Carolina. He’s scored more than 1,700 points for the Heels, and yet this season he’s fallen into a shooting slump, shooting under 35 percent. Instead, Berry has stepped up for the Heels as a reliable perimeter shooter, shooting 37.6 percent on the season from the 3.
So when the Heels caught word of Buddy’s numbers from the Warriors shooting drill, both Paige and Berry sought out to top the Sooner.
“Coach had read us an article about Buddy doing the drill,” Berry said. “Coach wanted us to get more shots up and wanted us to find a drill, you know I think you get more out of shooting if you can turn it into a little competition thing, and that’s what we did,
“I think Marcus ended up beating Buddy, then Buddy went back and beat Marcus, then I beat Buddy’s by a lot, and I was kind of surprised.”
Berry not only beat Buddy and his teammate Paige, but he took the drill to an entirely different level.
It’s competitive drills, and coming out on top, like in the Warriors’ drill that’s helped Berry evolve into the quality perimeter shooter he’s become.
“Anything with competition and trying to get better and trying to be better than the next person, I think that’s always a good way to try to see where you’re at,” said Berry with a grin. “When I did it, I just felt like I know I can be a great shooter, I know I can be someone who can knock down shots, so it’s a good thing.
“I love being in competition, I love being competitive, that’s my nature and that’s just what I like to do.”
While the Tar Heels do not rely heavily on the 3 ball, unlike the Sooners, NRG Stadium presents a new set of problems for shooters. The court is elevated, and the court is awkwardly located off center in the stadium, causing depth perception to fluctuate. The overall NCAA tournament 3-point percentage is roughly 30 percent in 17 games over past tournaments played at NRG.
Mastering NRG Stadium, and the Final Four, is then anything but simple; shooters understand that.
“I’m just gonna try to focus in on the rim and shoot my shot as I usually do. It’ll probably have a little effect on me,” says Berry. ‘But I don’t want to just sit out there and just try to shoot three’s and if it’s not going my way, I’m not going to keep shooting, but if I see a couple go in, it’ll be good for us.
The guys are here to win a national title, but between Hield, Paige and Berry, there are bragging rights on the line. Since Berry set the record, neither Hield nor Paige has attempted to break it. However, now that the Final Four has united the trio, Berry thinks the competition will be renewed.
“I mean Buddy is a competitive guy; he’s an awesome player. I think he’s great. I’ve been watching him all year and he’s done some unbelievable stuff, but I’m pretty sure he’ll try to beat it but hopefully he doesn’t,” said Berry chuckling.
Maybe even Thompson and Curry will attempt to topple Berry’s incredible record.
Whether Berry and the Heels win a National Championship or not, Berry is still the reigning king of the 3-point shot.
