SAN JOSE, Calif. — It’s a lost art in today’s basketball.
Midrange jump shooters are an endangered species.
But not if you play for Purdue basketball.
On Thursday, a night where the Boilermakers went 4-for-20 from 3-point range, they utilized the often forgotten about area of the court teams tend to ignore.
Purdue was 8 of 11 on midrange jump shots, contributing 16 points in a 79-77 victory over Texas.
“The midrange is something I used to shoot in middle school and high school,” sophomore guard CJ Cox said. “I feel like the midrange shot is an underrated shot. Not a lot of people shoot it. They just think about the 3 and layup. If the opportunity is there, shoot it.”
Cox was so proficient at pullup jump shots, Matt Painter wouldn’t dare take it away from him after luring him to West Lafayette. On two pointers from beyond 10 feet this season, no one on Purdue has shot a higher clip than Cox’s 55.3 percent.
Cox made two midrange jumpers against Texas. So did Fletcher Loyer. And Braden Smith. Trey Kaufman-Renn and Omer Mayer each made one.
According to CBB Analytics, Purdue shoots 45.9% on midrange shots. That’s 9.4% better than the NCAA Division I average.
“The guys that are taking them are the guys that consistently make them,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “Even though analytically, it says that you want your rhythm 3s. But the defense is also trying to take that away. You want to be able to play at the rim.
“But sometimes you can’t get it to the rim. Like a lot of times people just think you can just organically get whatever you want. You’ve got to be able to execute and get shots.”
Take, for example, Smith.
He’s 5-foot-10 and long ago realized trying to shoot over big men at the rim wasn’t a high percentage attempt.
“That’s my layup,” Smith said of midrange jump shots. “That’s my shot I can go to. I can use my body, bump off defenders and be able to play that in between game. Obviously they’ve got to respect it. If they don’t, I keep shooting my shot that I enjoy shooting. If they do respect it, then I’m making two people guard me and I can dish it out to whoever.”
Trey Kaufman-Renn broke his left wrist the first day of basketball practice his freshman year of high school. Kaufman-Renn was given a basketball and told to go mess around on a side basket. Unable to use his left hand, Kaufman-Renn began launching right-handed hook shots and push shots.
Over time, that progressed into adding a floater to his game. It’s not a key component to Purdue’s offensive production. Kaufman-Renn is shooting 51.9% on two-point shots from 10 feet or further this season, according to cobrastatistics.
Purdue’s four highest volume midrange shooters — Smith, Kaufman-Renn, Mayer and Cox, respectively — all shoot better than 45%.
It’s contributed to what is currently the best adjusted offensive efficiency in the 22 seasons of KenPom data.
“It may not always be the most efficient shot,” Kaufman-Renn said. “It makes the defense change what they have to do. I think that just benefits us. That generates more 3s. That generates more lanes. That does everything.”
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue overcomes 3-point woes with ‘lost art’ in NCAA Tournament