Naar’s efficiency a key for 6- 0 Gaels
Two years ago, St. Mary’s guard Emmett Naar didn’t play a single minute all season. Last year, as a redshirt freshman, he offered hints of his accurate outside shooting but still didn’t regularly crack the starting lineup.
This week, Naar leads the nation — yep, absolutely all players on NCAA Division I college basketball teams — in three- point shooting percentage.
Naar is making 64 percent of his shots beyond the arc, at 16of- 25. That puts him No. 1 in the nation and helps explain why St. Mary’s remains unbeaten, at 6- 0, heading into Saturday’s game at Cal.
Naar and Joe Rahon, a transfer from Boston College, have formed a potent backcourt tandem. Most notably, they combined for 39
points and 12 assists Nov. 22, when the Gaels toppled Stanford 78- 61.
Now, as they prepare for another Pac- 12 opponent, Naar unexpectedly finds himself sitting atop the national rankings. He’s also No. 27 in the country in overall field- goal percentage ( 62.1), the only guard in the top 40.
St. Mary’s hasn’t played a demanding schedule to date, and Naar doesn’t shoot all that much — fewer than 10 attempts per game, including 4.2 threes. But his emergence bodes well as head coach Randy Bennett tries to reshape his young team.
“Joe is a great passer — he’s up there in the country for assists ( sixth at 7.7 per game) — which means I get a lot more open shots,” Naar said, referring to Rahon. “That makes it easier to shoot a higher percentage.”
Naar and Rahon both can play point guard, giving the Gaels an almost interchangeable backcourt. There’s still an oddity about Naar’s place atop the three- point rankings: His shot is downright funky.
He releases the ball with his right elbow at an uncommon angle, and it takes him longer than most players to uncoil. Put another way: It’s nowhere near classic, Stephen Curry- like form. It also works. “I don’t have the most fundamental release, but I tried to speed it up a bit this year,” Naar said. “It’s just how I naturally shoot, I guess. It used to be a lot worse when I was younger; I sort of flinged it from the side.”
Naar, a 6- foot- 1 sophomore, grew up in Sydney. That’s practically the heart of St. Mary’s recruiting territory, given the school’s long pipeline of players from Down Under.
Two St. Mary’s alums in particular caught Naar’s notice: Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova, both point guards and both now in the NBA. Naar recalled sitting at home one Saturday morning, several years ago, watching Dellavedova and the Gaels play on television.
Not surprisingly, Naar jumped at the chance to play at St. Mary’s after he spent 1 ½ years sharpening his game at the Australian Institute of Sport. It helped that Naar’s roommate at the Institute, forward Dane Pineau, also was coming to Moraga.
Naar still needed some time to become acclimated to the U. S. college game. He made progress during his redshirt year, and then he made the West Coast Conference’s All- Freshman team last season.
Now he’s become a reliable starter and St. Mary’s leading scorer at 16.5 points per game. That’s a striking contrast with the raw kid who arrived two years ago.
“There’s a world of difference, really,” he said. “When I first came here, I wasn’t quite ready for the next step up in athleticism and strength of college basketball. Even last year, there’s a picture of me where I look a bit chubby and unathletic out there.
“Over the past year or so, I’ve tried to change my diet a little bit. I’ve worked hard to slim down but get stronger at the same time, so I can cope with the long season.”