Lofton Struggling Early
Lofton finally breaks out of an early season slump.
Tennessee Volunteer fans breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday night, as senior guard Chris Lofton finally broke out of a three game shooting slump to start the season. Heading into the game against Middle Tennessee State, Lofton was shooting just 6-of-28 from the field in the Vols’ first three games. Even worse was his 17.6 percent success rate or 3-for-17 from beyond the 3-point line. Not only was it the worst start of his three years at Tennessee, it was the worst three game stretch period for Lofton who many had predicted would be the Naismith Player of the Year by March.
Coach Bruce Pearl, a character in his own right, was speechless for the first time in probably his life. He simply had no answers and just like the rest of us, was just hoping and praying that Chris would find his shot again. Thankfully for Coach Pearl and the rest of the Tennessee Volunteer faithful, it looks like it has.
The thing with shooters is that it’s such a streaky thing. Much like in golf, you can be a terrific ball-striker and for some unknown reason you’ll start crapping out. Golfers call it the shanks. It is very much a mental thing more than any physical problem. For shooters in basketball, its the same analogy. Once you start thinking to much and trying all the little adjustments to get it back, it just seems to get worse.
While it is only one good game since the slump, the confidence was there on Tuesday. Chris was letting the shots go and he wasn’t worrying about his form or anything, he knew they were going down. That is a mark of a good shooter.
Thankfully for Volunteer fans, the slump hasn’t cost them any games and their RPI remains strong and is about to get stronger against a pretty good shooting team in Michigan tomorrow.
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