Beyond The Arc: January 23, 2024

Haunted in Halton

North Texas continues to struggle in Charlotte. For some reason, in that building, North Texas can't hit a 3-point shot to save their life. In the past three games at Halton Arena, North Texas has shot 8-49 (16.3%) from beyond the arc. That's not even close to their season average, which hovers around 35%. It could've been tired legs that did them in, the Charlotte defense, or perhaps the voodoo that Charlotte seemingly casts on their opponents before they play in that building. Either way, North Texas needed to hit a few more shots to make it a game. It always sounds so easy: just hit a few more shots, and all will be good. However, one thing North Texas failed to do this past Saturday was create shots for their teammates. Now, North Texas isn’t a great assist team, and they’ve struggled in that area since the Rubin Jones injury. But on Saturday, they only had 2 assists, whereas in their last 5 games, North Texas was averaging 9.6 assists per game. Charlotte did a great job at limiting the 3 COGs in the North Texas offense. They used length on both Scott and Edwards to make their shots feel uncomfortable. They shut off driving lanes and made finishing at the rim difficult for Noland and Edwards. They just made life miserable for every North Texas player, except maybe Stone. At this point, if you’re an opposing coach, why would you even guard #23? Why wouldn’t you throw out some old-school triangle and 2 defense and shut down Edwards? Stone has logged over 200 minutes this season and has a usage rate of 7%. His usage rate in conference play is even lower (4.8%), despite his minutes being greater. He is playing more minutes and having no impact on the game. It's one of the most baffling areas of the season. Why does he continue to get minutes?