Texas Basketball: 3 best shooters for the Longhorns for 2023-24 season
Brock Cunningham, F
The best catch-and-shoot threat Texas has returning next season from last year’s squad is super senior forward Brock Cunningham. The sixth-year senior and 6-foot-5, and 205-pound forward will be one of Texas’s most experienced players in the wing/forward rotation next season.
Cunningham is known for his grit on both ends of the floor and his tough on-ball defending ability. But Cunningham is finally getting more recognition for his ability to stroke the ball from deep since last season.
Last season was Cunningham’s most efficient in his collegiate career purely in terms of shooting percentages. Cunningham posted career bests in three-point field goal percentage (41.3), free-throw percentage (87.1), and true shooting percentage (61.5) last season.
Cunningham proved he could get it done as a floor spacer with more touches, draining a career-best 26 three-point field goals on 63 attempts. He was also extremely effective from the mid-range, shooting 48 percent on 25 attempts last season.
It would be smart for Terry and the Longhorns to continue to give Cunningham more catch-and-shoot looks from the mid-range and deep next season, given his upward trendline in shooting efficiency from those regions of the floor.
Brock Cunningham is one of the best role players in #MarchMadness.
— ShotQuality (@Shot_Quality) March 15, 2023
The senior wing is shooting 42.4% from downtown—76th %ILE on open C&S threes w/1.05 PPP.
His bench production could be important for the Longhorns in the tournament. pic.twitter.com/ZwYsNEyo7X
We should anticipate that Cunningham and Weaver will give the Longhorns a ton of floor spacing coming off the bench next season. These two pair well together regarding their ability to space the floor from different areas beyond the arc.
Cunningham is a big-time three-point shooting threat from above the break. He shot 43.4 percent above the break on over 50 three-point attempts from that spot last season. Cunningham will be Texas’ biggest catch-and-shoot three-point threat from above the break, which serves as a useful outlet for the pass when Terry wants to run the offense inside out or designed pick-and-pop plays.
Meanwhile, Weaver can post up in the corners and serve as a drive-and-kick threat to space the floor or to be a secondary facilitator, given his ability to create his own shots and get to the free-throw line.