It’s no secret that Todd Golden loves to let three-point shots fly. In his three years at San Francisco the Dons finished 48th, 2nd, and 37th in the country in three-point attempts (technically three-point attempt rate, per KenPom) and he mentioned it multiple times being a key element of their offensive strategy. It was also mentioned that it would be a strategy he brought to Florida, a team that regularly was in the bottom third of the country in three-point attempts.
However, that hasn’t been the case. In the 2022-23 season, Florida was 200th in the country in three-point attempts, and it’s something the staff wanted to increase in 2023-24 but that didn’t happen. In fact, the team actually took a step back–coming in at 248th in the country in three-point attempts.
Florida is once again looking to increase their three-point shooting output, but will it happen this upcoming season?
To start, you have to look at the players on the roster. While Florida has wanted to increase their three-point attempts, the player acquisition hasn’t necessarily matched that goal. In Golden’s first year in Florida he brought in Kyle Lofton to play the point guard position, someone known as a reluctant shooter who took just 103 three-pointers the season prior at St. Bonaventure, despite playing a huge amount of minutes. Then in 2023-24, Golden brought in Zyon Pullin who, in a shocking stat, actually took less threes than Kyle Lofton–only 64 in the season prior at UC Riverside. Florida’s roster building in the frontcourt also hurt their ability to get three-point shots up as they chose to go with a frontcourt of traditional interior players as opposed to adding stretch fours that could increase the three-point output. There was optimism that Tyrese Samuel could become a stretch big, but given his four seasons of limited three-point shooting and poor percentages at Seton Hall that optimism proved to be ambitious.
How does Florida’s incoming players in 2024-25 affect the three-point output? Let’s take a look.
Last season the Gators took 787 threes as a team. Departing the roster due to graduation are Zyon Pullin and Tyrese Samuel, and between them–there weren’t a ton of deep jumpers. Pullin (78 attempts) and Samuel (25 attempts) combine for just 103 three-point attempts out the door–so it’s not going to be all that difficult to replace them.
For example, let’s look at Florida Atlantic guard Alijah Martin who will be joining Florida’s backcourt. On his own, he shot 207 threes after taking 187 in each of the previous two seasons. Already the Gators are going to be in the positives from a three-point shooting standpoint as having Martin in the backcourt and taking out Pullin means there will be a lot more three-point shooting, with Martin being about three times more willing to pull the trigger from deep than Pullin. In fact, a big reason that Martin was acquired was because of his volume three-point shooting–so you better believe he’s going to have a constant green light while at Florida. Right away you can start to see the math moving in Florida’s favor when it comes to the amount of three-pointers they’re looking to pull, as Pullin’s 78 attempts out the door making way for Martin’s incoming 207 attempts puts the Gators at a theoretical +129 attempt advantage.
Florida is also hoping for some shooting in the frontcourt from Sam Alexis. While his percentage wasn’t great at Chattanooga (28%) he took 50 threes–double the amount that Tyrese Samuel took (he went 4-25 on the season) and with Alexis being on the younger side with shooting being a focus from the coaching staff he’s likely to take even more. It’s also likely that Alexis will get most of his minutes at the power forward spot, a position the Gators would love to get more shooting from than they had a year ago.
One of the biggest additions to Florida’s amount of three-point shooting will come from incoming freshman Urban Klavzar, who is already coming off three years of high-level professional experience in Europe and can be expected to contribute right away. The 6’1” ball handler is known for his ability to shoot off the dribble, and he is particularly skilled at getting to his stepback whenever he wants. Last season in his professional league in Spain Klavzar had 93 three-point attempts total, while playing 18 minutes per game over 33 games. Playing in a very competitive league in Spain with grown men he wasn’t always the primary option, but he was still relied upon to take and make tough shots–something that was seen when he played for Slovenia in the recent European Under-20 Championships. There he had 47 three-point attempts in just seven games, and he converted on an impressive 38% of them. When it comes to Florida improving both their three-point rate and efficiency–Klavzar could be the x-factor that really changes the complexion.
Florida is also looking for increased usage from Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon who were both comfortable taking open threes–moreso than last year’s starters Micah Handlogten and Tyrese Samuel who were reluctant. The Gators aren’t going to be getting three-point shooting from Washington State trans Rueben Chinyelu, so Haugh and Condon will be given the green light to let three-point shots fly.
Last year Florida’s season revolved around the fact that they were able to take care of lesser teams with relative ease, but they weren’t able to get many big wins. One of the factors in that was the three-point shot, or, more specifically–the fact that they didn’t take that many. Three-point shooting adds variance, something that can be both good and bad. On the good side, Florida didn’t often go into long cold stretches shooting jumpers because, well–they didn’t shoot that many jumpers. This meant they didn’t allow lesser opponents to overtake them, something that can happen to teams that take a lot of threes and occasionally go cold. However, Florida’s lack of three-point shooting attempts also meant that it was difficult for them to overpower better teams–particularly if their opponent was putting up a lot of high-value three-point looks.
The Gators are determined to increase their three-point output and this year the roster is more suited to do so than recent years, so look for threes to fly with more regularity in Gainesville this season.