Arizona Basketball – The Wildcats’ Shooting Touch

Arizona Basketball has had some prolific scorers and shooters over the years, and we look at some of the top performers in True Shooting Percentage!

Sometimes statistics are hard to fully appreciate without some context. True Shooting Percentage (TSP) is an important statistic in basketball, as it formulates a player’s shooting efficiency using field goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage, and free throw percentage. Arizona Basketball has had not one, but two NCAA college basketball TSP season leaders since 1987.

First, there is Steve Kerr, perhaps the best shooter in NCAA college basketball history. During Arizona’s first Final Four season in 1987-88, Kerr achieved a TSP of .782, which is the best mark in NCAA college basketball since at least 1985.

To give one perspective on how incredible that is, the second-best season for a U of A player is Derrick Williams in 2010-11 with .690, almost a full point off Kerr’s record.

The variance between Williams’ percentage and the tenth-place mark of .647 on U of A’s all-time list is only .043. Kerr’s record TSP is a full .092 above the second-best TSP in Arizona history, over double the difference of the next nine players’ seasons!

And then there’s Salim Stoudamire. A prolific scorer and shooter, Salim led the nation in TSP for the 2004-05 season with .689, still a staggering .093 difference!

Here are the Top 10 TSP in Arizona Basketball History!

1. Steve Kerr, 1987-88 (.782)

2. Derrick Williams, 2010-11 (.690)

3. Salim Stoudamire, 2004-05 (.689)

4. Al Fleming, 1973-74 (.685)

5. Christian Koloko, 2021-22 (.661)

6. Allonzo Trier, 2017-18 (.656)

7. Sean Elliott, 1987-88 (.656)

8. Jud Buechler, 1988-89 (.653)

9. Deandre Ayton, 2017-18 (.650)

10. Michael Wright, 2000-01 (.647)

And just a reminder, Kerr still holds the record for the best 3-point percentage in an NCAA college basketball season (minimum 100 attempts) at 57.3 percent.

However, Kerr has another statistic that might be even more phenomenal! In the 1987-88 season, Kerr made more 3-point attempts than he missed during that year! That was his only season playing with the newly implemented 3-point line.

Fun Fact: According to ESPN, Kerr was shooting 59.9 percent (!!!) from three up to his final game, the heart-breaking Final Four loss to Oklahoma; his rough shooting night (2-for-12) caused it to “drop” to 57.3 percent.

Arizona has duly been called ‘Point Guard U’ by fans and pundits. Besides Kerr and Stoudamire, U of A has produced many other NBA point guards, most notably Damon Stoudamire, Mike Bibby, Jason Terry, Khalid Reeves, TJ McConnell, and Gilbert Arenas. This is not even considering top college players that did not have an impact in the NBA, such as Miles Simon and Nick Johnson. But Shooter U might also be apropos.

Let’s end with this, Belmont has had FOUR different players lead in True Shooting Percentage within the last 21 seasons! (To be fair, they have a case to be called Shooter U.)