Ben Johnson's Gophers show significant improvement in three-point shooting

When coach Ben Johnson searched the transfer portal to fill his first Gophers men's basketball roster this year, he built a team in his own image as a player. He was a shooter.

Well before kids were looking up NBA three-point king Steph Curry, Johnson finished his career in 2004 ranked in the top 10 in Gophers history at better than 39% shooting from beyond the arc.

"If you can shoot the basketball, I'm going to love you," Johnson said after he was hired in late March. "It's a skill that covers up a lot of mistakes."

There wasn't a Gophers game that reflected that more than a 79-71 victory on Dec. 14 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Nine threes from four different players dropped in the first half.

The Gophers (9-1), who face Wisconsin-Green Bay on Wednesday at Williams Arena, finished with 11 three-pointers against the Islanders, helping them overcome 28 turnovers — the most in a game for the program since 2007.

"This is who we are," said Johnson about having a team filled with shooters. "There's confidence in that guys know this is our style, this is our brand."

Senior guard Payton Willis led the Big Ten through Monday's games with 45% shooting from the three-point line. He went 5-for-6 from long distance against Corpus Christi.

Last season, the Gophers shot a program-record worst 28.4% from three and ranked 341st nationally. But they were 46th nationally and second in the Big Ten with 25.2 attempts per game.

They also finished third in team history with 730 three-point attempts.

In comparison, the post-Richard Pitino Gophers are shooting 36.4% from three, ranking seventh in the Big Ten, but they are also attempting fewer shots from beyond the arc per game (21.4).

Johnson told his players during shootaround before the Corpus Christi game he could see them breaking the team three-point record, which is 18 against Nebraska on March 8, 2020.

"If we take the right ones, there's no reason why we can't set the record," Johnson said.

Minnesota has made double-digit threes three times this season, including 12 in victories over Western Kentucky (73-69) and Mississippi State (81-76). The Gophers have won three times with fewer than six threes, but they were outshot 10-6 in three-pointers made in their only loss, 75-68 against Michigan State.

Three-point defense has been just as important to the success of the Gophers, who rank second in the Big Ten and 15th nationally in lowest opponent three-point percentage (26.0).

"There's games we might go on a cold streak," Johnson said, "but that doesn't mean we're going to change who we are and what we do."

The only returning player from last season getting minutes is senior big man Eric Curry, who hasn't made a three-pointer. So 100% of Minnesota's scoring on three-pointers this season has come from newcomers.

Willis leads the Gophers and ranks second in the Big Ten with 2.7 threes per game, but not far behind is sophomore forward Jamison Battle, tied for fifth at 2.5 per game.

Senior starting guards Luke Loewe and E.J. Stephens were recruited from the portal for their three-point shooting and defense. Loewe opened the season 2-for-14 from beyond the arc, but he is shooting 5-for-14 in his past four games, including three double-figure scoring games.

Stephens, who has five games with at least two threes this season, leads the team with 46.3% shooting from three, but he is just short of attempts needed to qualify for the Big Ten lead.

Battle, the team's leading scorer at 18.5 points per game, is shooting 34.2% from three, but he seems to have limitless range. The 6-7 former DeLaSalle standout can pull up from nearly 30 feet and regularly drill contested jump shots.

"If you think you have a good shot, shoot it," Battle said. "I think that's what Coach Johnson has given me. I feel like I've had that my whole college career, and he's exemplified it, giving me the green light to shoot."

The Gophers had 11 threes from four different players in an 80-67 exhibition victory over Concordia (St. Paul) on Nov. 1 and never looked back with their shooting confidence.

Shooting is a priority for Johnson in recruiting now and on future Gophers teams.

"When I was in the portal, that's something he told me directly," Stephens said. "We know we want guys who can shoot the ball. We have guys coming in next year who can shoot the ball like [Park Center's] Braeden [Carrington]. Very good shooter, one of the best in the state. That's something we emphasize on this team."