The St. John’s basketball team has shot the 3-point ball better in recent games during its winning streak, but Rick Pitino still is hoping to see better from his squad.
In a social media post on Sunday Pitino said he wants sophomore guard Simeon Wilcher to take “6-8 college threes” for the remainder of the season and his wording of the message was very specific.
Pitino said on Monday, when asked about his comment, that Wilcher is shooting too many shots from the NBA 3-point line when the Red Storm play at Madison Square Garden and other NBA arenas.
“That [3-point] line is confusing him,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “He needs to step on that line and not shoot two feet behind the line.”
Wilcher is shooting 30.5-percent from 3-point range this season, down from his 41.7-percent during his freshman campaign although he has already more than doubled his attempts.
Recently, he has hit a cold spell only making 3-of-22 attempts since January 4 and is 2-for-12 inside The Garden during that time.
Confidence remains high from Rick Pitino that Simeon Wilcher will start hitting shots, but he needs to see that belief in himself.
“He needs to get up about 3-to-5 more attempts per game because he’s such a good shooter,” he added. “He’s open and he’s looking to drive, and that’s concerning.”
“I think shooters like Aaron [Scott], Sim [Wilcher], they’re counting their misses too much in their minds instead of taking open shots when they are there.”
As a team, St. John’s is shooting 29.9-percent from 3-point range which is 329th in the country out of 355 teams. The only two power conference teams that rank below the Red Storm are No. 7 Michigan State (341) and Wake Forest (350).
“I’ve always preached to my team, whether you’re 0-for-7 and you’ll make your next four and then you’ll be 4-for-11, but these guys don’t adhere to that.”
The No. 15 Johnnies are shorthanded among its shooters with the injury to Brady Dunlap and, despite his lack of playing time, Rick Pitino calling freshman Lefteris Liotopoulos “the best shooter on the team.”
It only heightens the need for Wilcher to find his stroke from the outside and perhaps being a few feet closer to the 3-point line will make the difference.
St. John’s (17-3, 8-1 Big East) will try and push its winning streak to seven on Tuesday night (6:30 p.m. ET, FS1) against Georgetown (13-7, 4-5 Big East).