Who’s that leading the nation in 3-point shooting?
You’re guessing Katie Lou Samuelson or Kia Nurse? Nope, those two UConn Huskies are Nos. 2 and 4 behind Norfolk State’s Alexys Long, shooting a blistering, sizzling .484 from beyond the arc.
The 5-11 guard/forward is 45-of-93 when it comes to draining triples. She’s had standout performances against VCU (5-of-7), Florida A&M (4-of-5) and most recently Hampton (3-of-4). Long wasn’t too shabby in Monday night’s victory over Delaware State, either, finishing 4-of-10 from 3 as NSU improved to 14-9.
The Clinton, Md., native isn’t overly analytical about her Midas touch, either. Last year, as a sophomore, she led NSU from downtown, shooting .353.
“I tweaked a couple things, but for the most part, it’s just repetition,” she said.
The tweaks? “It’s things that people overlook when they shoot. Focus on where you want to shoot. Don’t look at the rim as a whole; focus on a spot on the rim. Square your shoulders. Be ready to shoot, low, ready, catch and shoot. Just be ready to shoot when you get the ball.”
Remember last year when the Spartans were among the worst 3-point shooting teams in the nation? Ancient history. This NSU team shoots .335 from 3, a respectable 117th in the nation.
Long said coach Larry Vickers doesn’t want the Spartans to rely on the 3, but Long certainly has the green light. She’s easily the best shooter in the family. Brother Alex starts for the NSU men’s team, but hasn’t taken any 3s this season.
“He takes a lot of longs twos,” she said. “I think a lot of that is him not realizing where his feet are, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing cause you don’t want to be looking down.”
Long is a believer her trey is going in every time she puts one up.
If it doesn’t . . . “The next one is going in,” said the junior, whose favorite player to watch is James Harden.
And BTW, Harden shoots a mere .381 from 3. The Houston Rockets star will have to do better than that to catch Long.