Hubert Davis hopes ‘checklist’ can help struggling Caleb Love find his shot for UNC
North Carolina coach Hubert Davis gave guard Caleb Love the checklist every player has to reference sooner or later.
Spoiler alert: Davis’ guide to getting out of a shooting slump does not involve shooting your way out of it.
Love’s play has generally been the barometer for the Tar Heels (16-7, 8-4 ACC) this season. The 6-foot-5 sophomore has the greatest fluctuation of any UNC player between his scoring average in wins and in losses. He’s averaged nearly 17 points per game in Carolina’s 16 wins, including matching his season-high of 22 points six times. But in losses, Love’s scoring dips to 10.5 points per game, including Saturday’s eight-point performance against Duke.
As Carolina travels to face Clemson on Tuesday, it needs this to be the game the Love breaks out of his slump.
Love is shooting just 26 percent from the field over the past seven games, a decrease from 42.6 percent through the first 16 games. His 3-point shooting has declined, as well. After hitting 45 percent of his shots from behind the arc to start the season, Love has made just 13 of his 40 3-point attempts (32.5 percent) over the past seven games.
“There were times that I couldn’t make shots, and so my checklist was, the first thing to do was to look at something mechanical,” Davis said. “Was my elbow out? My guide hand becoming too involved? How’s my rotation? Are my legs strong enough? Am I getting arc? All those different things.”
Love does have a tendency to fade a bit instead of going straight up and down on his jumper. But Davis said over the seven games he hasn’t seen any major mechanical flaws in Love’s shot.
The second thing to consider, Davis said, is shot selection. Love is actually shooting better from 3-point range over the past seven games than he is inside the arc. He’s made just 22.5 percent of his two-point shot attempts during that stretch.
“A lot of times people say in order to get out of not a shooting slump, but you’re not shooting the percentages that you normally shoot, keep shooting, keep shooting, keep shooting,” Davis said. “I don’t believe that. I think you need to keep shooting good shots.”
This may be the area that Love needs to address the most, mainly because it can be difficult to navigate. Davis said he wants his players to attack the basket and get to the free throw line because making free throws is another way to get confidence in shooting.
Love tried that in the first half against Duke, while going 0-for-6. Once, he challenged 7-foot center Mark Williams when the Blue Devils switched defenders on a pick-and-roll. Love tried to use the rim as a shield from Williams’ long reach on a reverse layup. But the angle he took to the basket still allowed Williams to partially block his shot.
On a second drive, Love had a step on Trevor Keels, but wasn’t prepared for Wendell Moore moving across the lane to help. Love appeared to lose control of the ball as he was gathering to shoot and what he pushed up didn’t come close to hitting the rim.
Love stretched his arms out, palms up, as if he either wanted a foul call or was exasperated by another miss.
That brings up the third part of the checklist: Davis said one way to break out of a slump was to not fixate on shooting.
“I would take my mind off of shooting,” he said. “I think when you’re just thinking about, ‘I got to make shots, I got to make shots,’ you end up continuing to miss shots. What I did was I focused on other things.”
Love has averaged 4.0 assists over the past seven games, which is slightly better than his 3.3 average the rest of the season.
Davis doesn’t focus on the past seven games when evaluating Love, he looks at the entire season. Love is the Heels’ second-leading scorer, and leads the team in assists. Davis is confident he’ll move past his shooting slump.
“Caleb is not a shooter or a scorer, he’s a basketball player,” Davis said. “And so I’ve been really happy with Caleb and his improvement and his development in a number of different areas and I think he’s having a terrific season.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 6:15 AM with the headline "Hubert Davis hopes ‘checklist’ can help struggling Caleb Love find his shot for UNC."