Texas State (2-2) is still hunting 3-pointers. Just not behind the arc.
Four games into the year, the Bobcats are shooting .286 percent from deep, down nearly five percentage points from last season. Yet, the team is still averaging an extra 2.5 points per game than last year’s squad.
The maroon and gold are making up the difference at the free throw line. With more of their field goal attempts coming inside, the Bobcats are finding more ways to draw contact. Texas State is averaging 17.25 attempts, more than any year since the 2014-15 season.
Head coach Zenarae Antoine said the adjustment from outside-in has been relatively smooth.
“We talk a lot more about the 3-point play now — the traditional, old-school 3-point play where you get the and-one and finish it at the free throw line,” Antoine said. “I could tell you that adjustment probably comes more so for (senior guards) Brooke and Bailey (Holle), who’ve been a part of a program of really good shooters, you know, our other players around them that can shoot similar to them. So I think that’s probably more of an adjustment for them. But they’re also smart, savvy kids, too, who understand, ‘Well, this is another opportunity for us to score as well. It’s just different.’”
Junior forward Jayla Johnson and sophomore posts Da’Nasia Hood and Jaeda Reed all rank inside the team’s top four scorers, combining for 28.3 points per game. Antoine said they’ve continued to find their confidence as the season has progressed.
“It’s a really young group, it’s a really really young group. The oldest — as a matter of fact, we don’t have a senior in that group,” Antoine said. “So that group in itself, for them, because it’s new, it’s all they know, I think they’ve accepted the role.”
Still, the group has to go through its growing pains. The team tests Antoine’s scouting report too often for the head coach’s liking, occasionally failing to close all the way out on a shooter or using the wrong footwork against a left-handed dribbler.
Antoine said being more disciplined in their execution will be the key to the Bobcats finding more success on the floor.
“We need consistency,” Antoine said. “Those are the types of things that I’m going to truly be looking for. Can we stick to a scouting report, can we stay disciplined in what we’re asked to do and then reap the reward of whatever that (is) — hopefully that’ll be on the winning side.”
Texas State hosted New Orleans (2-3) inside Strahan Arena at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The game ended after press time. The team will play against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (4-2) at home on Saturday at 2 p.m.
