Utes' 3-point shooting must improve

As long as the Utah basketball team continues to shoot just 30 percent from 3-point range, it isn’t going to win a lot of games, no matter how well it plays defense.
In Wednesday night’s loss to New Mexico, the Utes shot 30 percent from the long range, which is exactly what they were shooting coming into the game. They actually started off hot, sinking three of their first four 3-pointers, as Marshall Henderson made two and Jace Tavita made one, giving Utah a 13-7 lead. After that, the Utes were a miserable 3 for 19. And most of them were wide open as coach Jim Boylen made a point of saying afterward.
The good news was that Tavita, who was 2-for-13 coming into the game, including the lucky one he made on an attempted pass against TCU, made 2 of his 3 long attempts Wednesday night. If he can start making them like he did in high school, that could open up the Ute offense and take some pressure off Henderson and Luka Drca.
Also you figure Henderson and Drca have to start making his threes at some point. Drca shot 39 percent last year but is hitting just 29 percent this year. Then there’s Henderson, who has attempted 106 3-pointers already and, like the Ute team, is hitting 30 percent of his threes. He’s on track to finish second on the all-time Utah list for 3-point attempts in a season, behind only Nick Jacobson when he was a senior. If he could only hit 40 percent like Jacobson did, the Utes will win more games.