University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Britt's Offense Evolving
January 2, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
By Adam Lucas
In one of Carolina's earliest games this year, Nate Britt noticed something very strange: a defender blocked one of his three-point attempts.
It wasn't so much the block that Britt found strange. It was the fact that any defense would respect his outside shot enough to be close enough to collect a block. "I wasn't used to defenders closing out on me that fast," he says. Defenses mostly left Britt alone as a freshman, as he shot just 25.0 percent from the three-point line and 36.7 percent from the field overall.
Because of the uneven results as a rookie, Britt made the well-publicized decision to switch from left-handed to right-handed jumpers over the offseason. He kept his left-handed free throw stroke, which was clutch (79.4 percent from the stripe) last season and has been even better this year (a team-leading 92.6 percent).
But everything else has been righty, and it's helped Britt evolve into a shooter who is at least present on the opposing scouting report. He's not Carolina's primary gunner, because that will always be Paige. And he might not even be the second-biggest outside threat, because J.P. Tokoto is hitting at a 41.2 percent clip from the arc. But he's capable of making the shot, which forces defenses to honor him and gives the Carolina offense an extra dimension.
Sure, the Tar Heels don't have three or four players capable of making six three-pointers in a game. But they at least have three or four players capable of making multiple three-pointers in a game, and that's an improvement over last year.
“I've been trying to get more shots up before and after practice, especially after,” Britt says. “Coach Davis helps me a lot, and I try to get up a lot of shots with him. Then, before games, I try to go out early and make sure my mechanics are right. I try to give it as much attention as I can.”
Indeed, Britt is regularly the first Tar Heel out of the locker room before games; he was on the Smith Center court at 5:15 before Carolina's 7 p.m. tipoff against William & Mary on Tuesday.
Tokoto, who has gone through some of the same workouts with Davis, knows the value of spending extra time with the shooting guru.
“One thing I love that Coach Davis does is that he finds little things and corrects them right away,” Tokoto says. “He's not just out there rebounding and telling you, 'Good shot.' If he sees my elbow coming out, he tells me to pull it back in. He'll remind you to hold your follow through. He's been a major part in my development as a shooter.”
Britt, of course, isn't quite as far along as Tokoto in that development. Davis has worked with Britt on getting better repetition with his mechanics, on details as small as making sure he jumps the same height on every jump shot. But the work the duo has put in already has Britt feeling confident enough to have hoisted 30 three-pointers as a sophomore, compared to just 12 his entire freshman season.
He hit a pair of trifectas against the Tribe, and he'll go into ACC play tomorrow against Clemson having made four of his last nine three-pointers.
“Coach Williams always talks about the best shot for the team,” Britt says. “There were times last year that I felt like my outside shot wasn't the best shot for the team, because I thought we could get a better one. This year, with me being more confident and knocking some down, I feel like sometimes it is the best shot.”
