Easy 3-sies: Gamecocks men’s basketball cooking from long range

The answers overlapped.

Michael Carrera: “He likes the ball to be in the paint first, but sometimes when you’re hot, you gotta let it go.”

Mindaugas Kacinas: “If you’re hot like Duane, let it go.”

Duane Notice: “I’ve been taken out the game because I didn’t shoot the ball.”

There’s been a lot less substituting, and a lot more letting it go, lately. No. 24 South Carolina’s 11-0 record has been spurred by unselfishness, rebounding – and 3-point shooting.

“No,” Carrera said when asked if the preseason plan was to turn the Gamecocks into an elite long-range team. “To be honest, we’re just getting open shots. And we’re making them right now.”

The Gamecocks are 18th in the country with a 40.9 percentage from 3-point territory, which puts them in range of a school record. USC’s best percentage from the arc was 44.1 in 1989, with second-best 38.3 in 1987.

Like their AP poll ranking, though, the Gamecocks aren’t paying attention. They’re winning games, shooting well and not living in fear of when the first loss comes. Until then, they’ll keep firing away and having fun doing it.

Carrera is shooting 62.1 percent (18-of-29) from 3 with Notice at 45.5 (20-of-44). Center Laimonas Chatkevicius doesn’t do it much, but has drilled 5-of-10, while P.J. Dozier is 7-of-16 (43.8).

In the last two wins, each a road game, Carrera and Notice hit five between them per game. The Gamecocks stroked seven against St. John’s and eight against Clemson.

What’s changed?

“In high school, they don’t let me shoot 3s. Now, my high school coach is telling me, ‘Now you can shoot!’ ‘Yeah, you should have let me shoot when I was in high school, we probably would have won (another) national championship,’” Carrera said. “I think I’m doing pretty good. I think the end of last year, maybe Ole Miss, in SEC games, I really had a lot of confidence in those games.”

The Gamecocks were shooting 28.8 from long range before the win at Georgia that turned last year around. They finished 30.1, with five wins in their final nine games.

Carrera made one 3-pointer in six of the nine, three of them wins. Two losses had the Gamecocks shooting under 30 percent, the other seven games had them shooting at least 30 percent.

Notice worked on his shot all offseason and has become the team’s third-leading scorer despite not starting a game.

“I try to make a minimum of 300 (3-pointers) a day,” he said. “What fuels me is the fact that coming out of high school, I was known to be more of a driver. Just hearing the scouting report saying that I can’t really shoot kind of fuels me to work on my shot.”

Frank Martin’s system is simple – take the 3, as long as the ball goes inside first. He’ll understand if you shoot without playing inside-out, and perhaps even if you fire a 3 on the first look of the possession.

“You’re out of the game,” began Mindaugas Kacinas, “unless you make the shot or somebody gets an offensive rebound,” Carrera finished. “He probably will give you a look, but if you make it, you’ll probably be fine.”

The Gamecocks have made a lot, and made them early, opening their preferred inside game and ability to create second and third chances. Everything is clicking.

No need to change a thing.

“I just let it go at practice, just try and let it go and just trying to get confidence,” Carrera said. “And, you know, it’s just going in.”

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Easy 3-sies: Gamecocks men’s basketball cooking from long range."