Sometimes setting the bar high hurts an athlete. A strong freshman season can give way to a disappointing sophomore slump. UTRGV’s Antonio Green is skipping every type of slump and improving on a strong first year.
A year ago, Green’s inaugural college season was impressive. In 25 games as a freshman, he deposited 289 points, 11.6 per game. His play and stat line earned him WAC Freshman of the Year honors.
This season, with a new-look team and new head coach, he’s been able to settle in further. Green leads the team in points with 18.3 per game, as well as 4.4 three-pointers made per game.
PHOTO COURTESY JOE MURPHY
He drained 75 three-pointers through 17 non-conference games, more than any player in NCAA Division I. He has attempted 176 shots from behind the three-point line, which is second in Division 1.
Only one person in the country, Damon Lynn from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, has attempted more three-pointers than Green. For Head Coach Lew Hill, it’s totally acceptable because of how often he converts.
“It’s what he does best,” Hill said, condoning his volume shooter’s habits. “If he’s open, that’s what he does best. That’s his strength right now.”
The 6-foot-2-inch combo guard leads UTRGV in scoring, a year after being second to Shaquille Hines, who has since graduated. Green credits his coaches for allowing him to shoot when he feels open. Getting the green light to shoot at will goes a long way to help the confidence of a volume shooter.
“Consistency and confidence, I put in a lot of work over the summertime,” the Mississippi native said. “My coaching staff and my teammates believe in me to keep shooting, so that’s what I do. A lot of repetition over the summertime paying off.”
On average, he is taking 4.7 shots per game, and 4.2 more three-point attempts than a season ago. Green believes his shooting helps open offensive opportunities for the rest of his team.
“I feel like [my three-point shooting] spreads the floor. Puts a lot of attention on myself and makes it easier on my teammates,” Green said. “Just me alone can make us a three-point threat. Me having all the attention creates open three-pointers for everyone else.”
The rest of the roster has made 89 three-pointers. On Dec. 29 against Our Lady of the Lake University, the team made a program-record 19 threes. Green had nine.
One of those teammates who has been benefiting from a better offense under Hill is Nick Dixon. He has made 18 of his own behind the arc, as well as averaging 16.9 points a game.
“It rubs off on everybody,” said Dixon, an Illinois native. “We see Antonio knocking down threes. [For] everybody else, it gets kind of contagious. Teams start to focus on him more, so they close out and try to send two at him. It opens up shots from other places.”
Dixon is a player who primarily drives the ball, which gives him the option to score or rack up assists. He had 59 leading up to non-conference.
“Volume shooting is OK, as long as it’s good volume shooting. [Coach Hill] would rather for us to shoot it than turn down the open shot,” Dixon said.
Hill confirmed what his guard said about wanting to take open shots as a team. The first-year coach said Green, as a constant threat, changes the landscape of an offense.
“It opens up the game for you. It opens up the inside, opens up for other people to get easy basket,” Hill said. “And we want to shoot threes, we want to shoot uncontested threes. We will take any open threes; we work on those. I want my guys to feel comfortable as long as we’re wide open.”
Green’s torrid pace of three-pointers could put him among some of the NCAA’s best if he’s able to hit almost four a game as the season progresses. That will become increasingly difficult as WAC defenses adjust to his attack.
“I definitely feel like the teams in the WAC are going to take a chance. I think it will be a lot of defenses thrown at me, so we’ll have to see,” Green said, referring to the potential of tight conference defense.
Green and the Vaqueros will be home again at 7 p.m. Saturday, hosting Chicago State University in their fifth match of the WAC campaign.
