Can Steve Lutz Fix Oklahoma State's 3-Point Shooting?
Outside shooting has been an area of concern for Oklahoma State for years, but a new coach could help those issues.
Although the NBA and basketball have evolved throughout the past decade, men’s college basketball has largely stayed the same, including the 3-point shot. That might not be the reality for every college program, but it’s the situation OSU finds itself in.
Many of the Cowboys’ issues from beyond the arc were forged deeper in the seven seasons under Mike Boynton. As Boynton’s offenses struggled to get consistent rim pressure, getting consistently good looks from beyond the arc was rare.
That often led to forcing looks from the outside because of the team’s inability to create better shots. Although the Cowboys had the personnel in some seasons to find success with that strategy, it never bred consistent results from year to year.
Last season, OSU shot 33.4% from outside on 24.3 attempts, the most in school history. In the past 10 seasons, OSU has hit 35% or better from 3-point range only twice. For reference, 35% would have been good for the 125th-best in the country last season.
Although Lutz does not necessarily have a track record of coaching great 3-point shooting teams, his teams have a healthier trend of shooting from outside. Under Boynton, OSU’s 3-point attempts made up roughly 40% of the team’s total shots in the past two seasons.
The ratio for Lutz in his three seasons as a head coach has been closer to 30%, with roughly a third of Western Kentucky and Texas A&M Corpus Christi’s shots coming from outside. That is also partially because of Lutz’s fast offensive attacks. Although his teams have shot a lower percentage of their shots from beyond the arc, their 3-point attempts have been nearly identical to OSU.
Lutz likely won’t make OSU a great 3-point shooting team, but his offense could help OSU take higher-quality looks from that range and use the shot to complement a faster pace.
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Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.