Free For Threes

The ACC’s best long-distance shooters from 2024

Most anyone who’s watched college or pro basketball lately is aware of how much the 3-pointer has become a staple offensively. Most recently WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark has dazzled with numerous long-range jumpers, some now celebrated as “logo threes”, her range, accuracy and prolific scoring conjuring memories of LSU’s Pete Maravich.

“Pistol Pete” played for his father, Press Maravich, from 1968 to 1970, an era when the American Basketball Association challenged today’s NBA with then-outlandish twists like a tri-colored ball and a long-distance arc to reward long shots counted as 3-point baskets. A decade and more after the ABA pioneered the shot, college ball started experimenting with the 3-pointer.

The Maravichs nearly stayed in Raleigh, where the 6-5 guard attended Needham Broughton High while his father was an NC State assistant and unofficial coach-in-waiting under Everett Case. But Pete’s SAT score was deficient and his father took a job as head coach at LSU, a faded power prominent in the1950s.

Maravich, wearing signature floppy white socks, went on to win All-American honors in 1968-70, averaging 44.2 points per game, most ever by a major-college player. That was without awarding a third point for his many long-distance daggers. Back in the days when assistant coaches could attend games to scout, it was common around the SEC to pick a contest involving LSU as an excuse to watch Maravich in action.

How extraordinary was Maravich? Ask yourself this: How many other schools named their basketball arena after an undergraduate player, in LSU’s case the Pete Maravich Assembly Center?

For his career Maravich scored 3,667 points in 81 college games. The ACC scoring leader is UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough with 2,872 in 142 games. Hansbrough, a low-post force, tried only 23 3-pointers.

The 2024 ACC leader in 3-point attempts and percentage was Pittsburgh’s Blake Hinson with 261. Hinson finished third in the league in scoring with an 18.45 average. The transfer from the University of Mississippi (with a Pitt stop, so to speak, at Iowa State) led the Panthers in scoring for the second year in a row. Now he’s an NBA free agent, his 6-8 frame and shooting acumen his most attractive characteristics.

Incidentally the ACC leader in 3-point accuracy among ACC regulars was Virginia’s 6-4 Isaac McKneely, a .445 shooter on 182 attempts. McKneely easily paced the Cavs in 3-point tries, but failed to qualify for official ACC leadership, falling two bonusphere conversions shy. Look out for him this season.

Another accurate 3-point shooter who eluded official notice was Clemson’s Ian Schieffelin. He tried 49 threes and made nearly half, insufficient attempts to officially qualify for ACC leadership.

Schieffelin at times dazzled with limited chances to try threes, setting up the possibility the 6-8 senior can now take on the versatile role of former frontcourt mate PJ Hall. The 6-11 Hall attempted 165 bonusphere bombs, more than any Tiger including sharpshooter Joe Girard III. (Hall made 52, 31.5 percent.)