Cannady has green light to chase Princeton’s 3-point record
PRINCETON >> Devin Cannady has the green light.
That much is clear about Princeton’s senior guard.
In a recent list of the top 30 shooters in the country, Cannady came in at No. 11.
“I would like to line all those guys up in one gym and shoot,” coach Mitch Henderson said during the team’s media day on Thursday. “I’ll put Devin up against anyone.”
Cannady needs 64 3-pointers to pass Brian Earl, the 1999 graduate who spent 10 years as an assistant for the Tigers before getting the head job at Cornell, for the most in program history. He has made 218 at a 41.4 percent clip in his career.
“My freshman year it was something he joked about that I’ll never touch that,” Cannady said. “It will be interesting if I can get to it.”
For the record, Cannady has averaged 80.5 made 3s over the last two seasons, so there’s a good chance he’ll have the record all to his own.
“We’re going to try,” Henderson said.
Cannady averaged a career-best 16.7 points on 45.2 percent shooting overall (he’s also shot free throws at an 88.4 percent clip is a career 90.3 percent shooter from the line). His 3-point percentage actually dipped slightly from 40.9 percent (81-for-198) to 39.4 percent (80-for-203).
To improve on that he’s not only worked on his shooting over the summer, but he’s watched tape of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, the star Golden State duo who set the NBA on fire on a nightly basis.
“I’m really big on watching their games and studying their film,” Cannady said. “Not just the shots they take, but how they get themselves open. Being a shooter, that’s something you love seeing happen in real time.”
If Cannady plays like Ivy Player of the Year, the Tigers are likely to improve in the win-loss column. They stumbled to 13-16 overall mark and missed the Ivy League tournament after going 5-9 in the league. The lost at least once to all seven of the other schools, and somewhat incredibly, went 1-4 in Ivy overtime games.
“Our first experience with the tournament was after winning 14 straight Ivy League games and then going on and winning those two,” Cannady said. “That’s what we knew, so not being there the next year, it was something that was expected, especially from a program like Princeton. We understand the history of this place and that was our expectation. We had a chance going into the last week given the mishaps of the conference play, but that’s just fuel for the fire this season.”
Cannady and classmate Myles Stephens have to lead the turnaround.
“We have to bring (the younger players) along and teach them how hard it is to win games,” Stephens said. “There’s such a transition between high school and college and the young guys who haven’t really played a lot don’t know how hard it is to win. We have to nail that in with a hammer that these little details do matter.” NOTE >> Henderson said freshman point guard Jaelin Llewellyn is ready to play right away. A quick 6-foot-2 ball-handler from Mississauga, Ontario, Llewellyn will allow Cannady to play off the ball where he thrived next to Amir Bell for the last three seasons. “He has an understanding of space in a college basketball game and he’s so fast that he’s able to get into little space that will help everybody else by changing the position of the defense,” Henderson said.