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Dispatch

OHIO STATE MEN?S BASKETBALL
Attention to shooting pays off for Buckeyes

Monday, November 20, 2006

Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


TERRY GILLIAM ASSOCIATED PRESS Ohio State?s Mike Conley Jr., left, says the Buckeyes "shoot every day before practice and after practice. ? We shoot like we?re actually in a game, and I think that helps us."



When Thad Matta became a head coach for the first time, at Butler in 2000, one sage he tapped for advice was Dick Harter, regarded as one of the best defensive minds in basketball and then an assistant with the Indiana Pacers.
Matta asked Harter if he had another chance to be a head coach, what would he do differently from when he led the expansion Charlotte Hornets from 1988 to ?90.
"He said, ?I?d shoot the ball more (in practice),? " Matta said. "I?ve always taken that from day one as a coach, to practice shooting, because it?s that important.
"It?s like taking 20 minutes to run five-on-zero and get all your sets down and (take) no time for shooting. You may run the play well, but (it doesn?t matter if) you can?t make the shot."
Practice has paid off for Matta?s young Ohio State men?s basketball team. Good shot selection, and by extension good shooting percentages, are not always a strength of players experiencing college basketball for the first time. Yet the No. 5-Buckeyes (4-0), with four firstyear players in their eight-man rotation, have shot 50 percent or better from the field in every game leading up to tonight?s against San Francisco (2-1).
"In the offseason, we got up a ton of shots each day. It?s paid off. It shows everybody worked on their shot," said guard Jamar Butler, whose .469 field-goal percentage is the lowest of the eight regulars.
Matta said he did not know how many shots players hoisted from April through September, but guard Mike Conley Jr. said the team?s goal when it began preseason conditioning in September was to shoot 10,000 shots before practice began Oct. 13. The goal was met.
"It?s just crazy how much we shoot," Conley said. "But it?s definitely working out for us."
Conley said people thought he was working hard in high school when he would put up 200 to 300 extra shots a week.
"That was nothing compared to what we do here," he said. "We shoot every day before practice and after practice. We get up at least 100 jump shots or three-pointers or whatever the drills are that day. We do like 50 mid-range (jumpers), then 50 threes, then come back and shoot 25 free throws.
"The important thing is that we shoot game-type shots, so it?s not like we?re just messing around and throwing the ball up. We shoot like we?re actually in a game, and I think that helps us."
It can be tiring after a hard practice, Conley said, but that?s the idea. "Being able to still shoot when you?re tired is a big deal," he said.
Matta complimented his players for "getting the shots we wanted" in a 74-45 win over Eastern Kentucky on Friday. He singled out freshman Daequan Cook, who scored a game-high 22 points, for doing "a nice job of finding the (open areas)."
Openings could be harder to come by tonight. San Francisco will have better athletes than Eastern Kentucky did. The Dons were picked to finish third in the West Coast Conference this season, behind Gonzaga and Loyola Marymount.
"They?re an athletic team, they like to get up (on defense) and force your hand a little bit," Matta said. bbaptist@dispatch.com