UNC basketball: Hubert Davis’ prospect list can help Caleb Love
North Carolina coach Hubert Davis gave guard Caleb Love the checklist that every player must refer to sooner or later.
Spoiler alert: Davis’ guide to getting out of a shooting crisis doesn’t involve shooting your way out.
The love game has generally been the barometer for the Tar Heels (16-7, 8-4 ACC) this season. The 6-foot-5 sophomore has the biggest fluctuation of any UNC player between his winning and losing scoring average. He averaged nearly 17 points per game in Carolina’s 16 wins, including six times his season-high 22 points. But in losses, Love’s score drops to 10.5 points per game, including Saturday’s eight-point performance against Duke.
As Carolina travels to face Clemson on Tuesday, this has to be the game that Love snaps out of her meltdown.
Love is shooting just 26% from the field in the last seven games, down from 42.6% in the first 16 games. His 3-point shooting also went down. After hitting 45% of his shots from behind the arc to start the season, Love has only made 13 of 40 3-point attempts (32.5%) over the past seven games.
“There were times when I couldn’t make shots, and so my checklist was that the first thing to do was look at something mechanical,” Davis said. “Did my elbow come out? My guiding hand gets too involved? How is my rotation going? Are my legs strong enough? Am I bow? All these different things.
Love tends to fade a bit instead of going up and down right on her sweater. But Davis said in the seven games he saw no major mechanical flaws in Love’s shot.
The second thing to consider, Davis said, is shot selection. Love actually shoots better from 3-pointers the last seven games than from inside the arc. He’s only made 22.5 percent of his two-point shot attempts during that streak.
“A lot of times people say to not come out of a shooting crisis, but you don’t shoot the percentages that you normally shoot, keep shooting, keep shooting, keep shooting,” Davis said. ” I do not believe that. I think you have to keep shooting good shots.
This is perhaps the area that Love needs to address the most, mainly because it can be difficult to navigate. Davis said he wants his players to attack the basket and get to the free throw line because making free throws is another way to gain shooting confidence.
Love tried that in the first half against Duke, while going 0 for 6. He once challenged 7-foot center Mark Williams when the Blue Devils switched defenders on a pick-and-roll. Love tried to use the rim as a shield against Williams’ long reach on a reverse layup. But the angle he took at the basket still allowed Williams to partially block his shot.
On a second ride, Love had a step on Trevor Keels, but was unprepared for Wendell Moore to move to the other side of the lane to help him. Love appeared to lose control of the ball as he gathered to shoot and what he pushed didn’t come close to hitting the edge.
Love stretched out his arms, palms up, as if he wanted a bad shot or was exasperated by another misfire.
That brings us to the third part of the checklist: Davis said one way out of a slump is to not focus on shooting.
“I wouldn’t think about filming anymore,” he said. “I think when you just think, ‘I gotta make shots, I gotta make shots’, you end up just going to keep missing shots. What I did was I focused on other things.
Love has averaged 4.0 assists over the past seven games, which is slightly better than his average of 3.3 the rest of the season.
Davis doesn’t focus on the last seven games when evaluating Love, he looks at the whole season. Love is the Heels’ second-highest scorer and leads the team in assists. Davis is confident he will overcome his shooting slump.
“Caleb is not a shooter or a scorer, he is a basketball player,” Davis said. “And so I’ve been really pleased with Caleb and his improvement and development in a number of different areas and I think he’s having a terrific season.”