In my last post, I talked about how Steve Vasturia had been struggling with his shot lately. I concluded that he was just in a little slump and would break out of it sooner rather than later. I still believe this is probably true, but the shooting slump continued in the Irish’s 83-76 loss at North Carolina.

Vasturia shot 4-11 from the field and 0-4 from three. Over the last five games, he is shooting 13-46 from the field (28.2%) and 4-24 from beyond the arc (16.66%). Inside the arc, his offensive game seems fine; a few contested layups just haven’t fallen for example. But his poor performance from three as of late has been a bit more perplexing, especially since Vasturia has shot really well this season (still shooting 39.4% from three overall).

Again, this could very well be nothing more than a little slump, but I noticed something in the North Carolina game that I thought might be contributing to Vasturia’s recent shooting woes. Look at Vasturia’s three-point attempts against UNC (he was 0-4 on the game).

What do all four of these shots have in common? (Don’t look at the answer yet. Go back and look again)

Each three is taken well beyond the three point line. It’s possible that these shots are just too deep for Vasturia. It’s not that he can’t possibly make them, but how often does he practice shots that are this deep? Should it be surprising that he was short on two of these shots considering how far away he was shooting from?

Steve Vasturia North Carolina shot chart: 0-4 from 3

(dark circles=makes, clear circles=misses)(all shot charts from ESPN.com)

Now it’s not like Vasturia is attempting deep threes for absolutely no reason. Taking a deeper three gives him more space to shoot and makes it harder for the defender to contest his shot. But again, maybe these deep threes aren’t shots he should really be taking. Maybe he needs to position himself closer to the three-point line, even if it results in some shots being a bit more contested or some shots not being attempted at all.

Most of Vasturia’s threes come near the wings and from the top of the arc, which are already the farthest threes from the basket (corner threes are the shortest). Taking a few steps back gives himself an even farther shot.

But before jumping to conclusions about Vasturia and his deep threes, I decided to look at Vasturia’s other shot charts during his shooting slump over the past five games.

Steve Vasturia Duke Shot Chart: 0-5 from 3

Steve Vasturia Georgia Tech shot chart: 1-4 from 3

Steve Vasturia Virginia shot chart: 2-5 from 3

Steve Vasturia Syracuse shot chart: 1-6 from 3

A lot of Vasturia’s threes over the last five games have come from considerably beyond the 3-point line, and he’s not making many of them. But again, before jumping to conclusions, there is one thing worth considering.

Vasturia has been shooting well all season. Was he making long threes in earlier games? Was he taking as many long threes? Well, here are some shot charts from some games prior to Vasturia’s shooting slump.

Steve Vasturia Florida State shot chart: 4-6 from 3 (three makes in that one corner)



Steve Vasturia Louisville shot chart: 2-4 from 3

Steve Vasturia Pittsburgh shot chart: 3-8 from 3

Along with these three shot charts, I looked at every available chart going back to the beginning of the season. The evidence was pretty clear: Vasturia has attempted some occasional long threes all season, but he’s been taking more lately, and for the most part, he’s been consistently missing these shots all season.

When he’s closer to the three-point line, he unsurprisingly seems to be making a much higher percentage of his shots.

But where do we go from here? Vasturia probably needs to alter his shot distance, but should we expect him to make this adjustment?

Well, it’s certainly possible that Vasturia or a member of the coaching staff jumps to the same conclusion I have, and the adjustment is made as a result. It’s also possible that Vasturia continues to shoot longer thress, but makes some adjustment in order to shoot them more accurately. It’s also possible that no adjustment is necessary, and Vasturia is simply in a little slump he will naturally get out of. And lastly, it’s possible that Vastura will continue to shoot long threes, and he will continue to be up-and-down the remainder of the season as a result. We’ll see what happens.

One Other Factor

There’s one other potential explanation for why Vasturia is missing threes, and in particular long threes. Since ACC play began, the senior is averaging 36.55 minutes per game. That’s a lot of minutes, and Vasturia often has to work especially hard on the defensive end when he guards the opposition’s better players.

Against North Carolina for example, he spent significant time guarding 6’9 Isaiah Hicks. The 6’5 Vasturia surely had to exert a lot of energy guarding Hicks in the post and battling him for rebounds. Here, he tries his best but has no shot of getting a rebound against 6’10 Kennedy Meeks.

Could these heavy minutes/defensive assignments be wearing down Vasturia a bit throughout games? Could this be contributing to his struggles shooting the three, and in particular long threes that require more energy? It’s certainly possible and worth monitoring.

Or again, maybe Vasturia is simply in a slump, and he’ll be hitting shots like this again before Irish fans know it (Sorry but I can’t resist pointing out that this was a three in the short corner…and notice how far away he was from the three-point line).