What is it about Rupp Arena? The rims? The background? The atmosphere?
Go back over the past eight years and look up the top 10 three-point shooting performances by a Kentucky opponent. Eight of the 10 happened at Rupp, including Sam Houston State’s prolific 18-of-38 super-showing from three-point land last night. And that came on the heels of Miami of Ohio’s blistering 15-of-26 showing on Monday night. So in two games, the Cats have allowed 33 made three-pointers in 64 attempts, a statistic that has led to John Calipari fearing that his head just might leave his body.
Anyway, eight of the top performances happened by opponents at Rupp. One happened in last year’s season finale when Notre Dame hit 12 threes on the way to beating Kentucky in the NIT. (Billy Gillispie’s final game as the Kentucky coach, it turned out.) And one happened in Maui. That was the Gonzaga game when the Zags hit 12 of 27.
Here’s the chart (because you knew it was coming):
Thank you John! It seems like we give away “career” 3 point shooting nights at Rupp. Is it our defense? Is it our rims? Is it a curse?
I would be interested to see a chart showing the 3-point shooting % of teams for a season compared with their Rupp %. Most of these teams would go from 28% to 48%…
Come on guys, its not a mystery. What makes over-matched teams in the NCAA Tournament rain threes on their opponents to make it a close game or even an upset? How many times have you seen teams who have no business making a run in the NCAA tournament, make a run in the NCAA tournament?
As everyone has said, playing in Rupp Arena, against Kentucky, is everyone’s Super Bowl. Its not the venue, its the teams playing it. These kids are so pumped to play against Kentucky, they shoot lights out.
I think that some teams come into Rupp figuring that shooting the 3 gives them their only chance of winning or staying in the game. Therefore, they are advised beforehand to go ahead and take any open looks. This takes the pressure off the shooters. They know they are not going to be benched for missing. It is MUCH easier to shoot long threes when you have a green light, consequently they hit a higher percentage.
If you will notice, UK is shooting the 3 pretty well this year, too. I think it is because the players have a green light from Calipari. Gillespi kept everyone uptight all the time! Can you imagine what Meeks would be doing in this offense? He would have had 30 last night…..easily, maybe 45.
I would be interested in a chart showing how well UK shoots 3′s compared to its opponents in Rupp (particularly in games where the opponent lights it up), and how UK shoots 3′s in Rupp comared to how it shoots 3′s on the road.
I wonder who might be able to pull such interesting information together?