Sasha Stefanovic's shooting has been a 'gamechanger' for Purdue
Following Thursday night's double-overtime win over Minnesota, Sasha Stefanovic is shooting just under 55 percent from three-point range in Mackey Arena this season.
And he's 17-of-31 against high-majors at home, 12-of-18 the past two games, in which he's averaged 20 points per game.
In short, the third-year sophomore has been lethal on Keady Court, a "game-changer," as Matt Painter called the shooting element he provides following the Central Michigan game.
"It makes a difference (playing at home)," Stefanovic said prior to the Minnesota game, in which he started hot and finished hotter, making a pair of clutch threes in the double-overtime win. "When you have 14,000 on the edge of their seat when you're shooting the ball, that's pretty cool, and it makes a difference, for me at least.
"Now I have to figure out how to do it (on the road)."
Stefanovic is shooting 45.3 percent from three-point range for the season — third-best among Big Ten players — but is shooting 25 percent from three-point range away from Mackey Arena, a trend he hopes to buck now that Purdue goes on the road to Illinois and Michigan for its next two games.
He was 1-of-4 over just 24 total minutes at the Emerald Coast Classic in Florida last month, his minutes held down by matchups, by Purdue's need to play additional ball-handlers vs. high-pressure defenses.
From those struggles came a turning point, however.
Upon returning from Niceville, Stefanovic was "shocked" to be moved into the starting lineup for Purdue's marquee game of the non-conference season, hosting Virginia in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
"I didn't think I deserved it, to be honest," Stefanovic said a few weeks back.
"I was a little down on myself. I was just trying to figure out ways to get on the floor."
Matt Painter switched his starting five to put his two big men on the court together to open the game, and moved Stefanovic in with them in hopes of getting more offensive "punch," a floor-stretching presence to complement that abundance of size.
For the second time in as many meetings with the Boilermakers, the Cavaliers found themselves on the wrong end of an individual's shooting blitz. Stefanovic had put down three of his six triples before the first media timeout had even hit, setting a tone for Purdue running Virginia off the floor that night.
That's been Stefanovic's normal at home. After missing the opener vs. Green Bay with a foot issue, he went off early vs. Texas, a close loss for Purdue that may not have been as close had Stefanovic not poured in a bunch of early points.
The Minnesota game unfolded distinctly similar to the Texas game, with Stefanovic shooting Purdue into a comfortable position early, only for the game to hang in the balance down the stretch, after Marcus Carr played the role of Matt Coleman and nearly carried Minnesota to a win in Mackey Arena.
This time, though, it wasn't just about Stefanovic starting strong, but finishing strong.
He forced a first overtime with a game-tying three; then he won it, essentially, in the second overtime with a go-ahead triple, right after Purdue had let slip a six-point lead that seemed decisive.
Not all that long after playing 24 minutes over two games in Florida, Stefanovic played 47 minutes vs. the Gophers.
You don't play nearly a full NBA game's worth of minutes simply by making jump shots, and that reflects another turning point for Stefanovic this season.
After Purdue's hideous loss at Nebraska, a sting that could endure for months to come, Stefanovic met with Painter following a 2-for-10 shooting performance on a day where no Boilermaker seemed to be able to put the ball through the net, for whatever reason.
"If I'm not making shots, I need to figure out other ways to still play 25-plus, 30 minutes or something like that," Stefanovic said of Painter's message. "I think I've done that lately where I've tried to distribute well, or rebound or guard my man or whatever it is. So from that aspect, I think I've really improved since that weekend."
For Stefanovic, that's meant even more of an emphasis on "winning my defensive matchup every game," cutting back on turnovers and cranking up his assists. He was already one of Purdue's pace-setters for taking charges, diving for loose balls, etc., but Nebraska was no one's finest hour on those fronts.
Things have changed for Stefanovic considerably this season. Last season, opportunities were capped. Ryan Cline and Carsen Edwards had to be on the floor as much as they could stand, so when Stefanovic came in, he knew a return to the bench wasn't far off.
It was about "emptying his tank" in limited opportunities, but Painter has often pointed out that for shooters, such scarcity of opportunity belies rhythm. That didn't stop Stefanovic from shooting 41 percent from three as a redshirt freshman, but did stop him from making much in the way of impact.
Now, it's still about emptying the tank, Stefanovic said, but also having a deeper tank.
And rhythm is a bit easier to come by.
When discussing his bursts of blistering shooting, Stefanovic always — always — credits Purdue's big men for drawing attention or making the right passes, and teammates for "finding him."
But there have been instances, too, where heat-checks have been rewarded for Purdue's most flammable perimeter shooter, the one guy on this year's roster who can replicate the shooting-on-the-move and quick-release elements that Cline and Edwards provided a season ago, the elements last year's offense was built around, and this year's offense is still largely unchanged from.
"I think for me, it's just getting in a rhythm early," Stefanovic said. "I think if I'm able to kind of get a shot up early in the game, it kind of gives me in the flow of it. I think it really helps and it's kind of worked within those games that I've shot well."
Purdue and Stefanovic alike would now welcome seeing more of the same in Champaign or Ann Arbor.
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