Since the season started, Gophers coach Tubby Smith has been calling this team one of the best-shooting groups he's ever coached. Incidentally, it's also been one of his youngest.

But with the Big Ten schedule now six games in, it's worth noting that the team's shooting has markedly improved.

Take a look at this chart from the last six games, split into the first three and the last three:

FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA

12/27 26 69 4 14 16 18
1/1 21 49 8 19 6 8
1/4 23 50 4 12 14 24

Total 41.6 percent 35.5 percent 72 percent

1/8 30 55 10 15 9 19
1/12 29 62 6 17 13 18
1/15 21 38 5 10 33 44

Total 51.6 percent 50 percent 67.9 percent


The numbers show that from the first three games to the last three, the Gophers shooting improved

• 10 percentage points from the field after making 10 more shots, but attempting 13 fewer
• 14.4 percent from three-point range, making five more total in their last three games than their first three.

Of course, the one area in which the Gophers did not improve statistically was free-throw shooting. But it's worth mentioning that the Gophers actually got to the line 31 more times in their second three games, a stunning jump. While the percentage is not as good, the team manufactured 19 more points by that method in the last three games.

Coach Tubby Smith said the improvement is simply the product of new offensive tweaks, as well as the young team getting more comfortable with each other and within the system.

"We've tried to do some things offensively to give us a little more structure, where guys know where their shots are going to come from and that type of thing and I think that's been very helpful," Smith said. "We've always been a team that has very willingly shared the basketball. We've got post men that are very good passers and I think that's leading to us getting better looks and making our shots at a higher percentage rate."