One of the main storylines from this past season for the Virginia basketball team surrounded 3-point shooting. Or, to be more specific, a lack of it. The Cavaliers, of course, overcame some of the shooting issues and won 11 of their last 12 games anyway.

Still, there’s no way around the fact that UVA simply had trouble putting long-range jumpers in the basket this past season. Virginia ended up shooting 30.4% from 3-point range to rank among the bottom 50 teams in the nation and as the second worst in the ACC – Pitt actually ended up at 29.6% to land in the conference cellar. That’s a stark contrast to what business as usual looks like for the program and that’s why, perhaps, it was such a regular conversation piece for the season. It was easy for fans and observers to point at the 3-point shooting and conclude ‘if that can just go up a little, this team will be dangerous in March’ or some variation on that theme.

Just how unusual was this past season from a shooting standpoint for the Cavaliers? In coach Tony Bennett’s 11-season tenure, Virginia had made fewer than 34.9% of its 3-point attempts only once previously when the 2011-2012 team finished at 33.0% to rank 233rd nationally. A 34.9% clip would have ranked inside the top 100 again this season when a longer 3-point line was in place for the first time. This year’s team made 27.5% of it’s 3-pointers in the 2019 portion of the schedule, but it got the number up to 32.3% after Jan. 1. It got even better later as the Cavaliers made 37.1% of their 3-pointers after Feb. 1 (the final 10 games).

UVA has ranked inside the top 150 nationally in 3-point shooting percentage in 9 of 11 seasons. Of note, the 2011-2012 team made the NCAA Tournament field and this year’s team was considered to be safely in the at-large pool as well before the event was cancelled.

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