Khadeen Carrington’s 3-point success may not be a flash in the pan

Entering the 2016-17 season, one of the biggest questions for Khadeen Carrington was whether he could finally put it together from outside. Up until the start of Seton Hall’s campaign, Carrington hadn’t quite been able to shoot it successfully and consistently from the 3-point arc.

You don’t have to look too far to find tangible evidence to prove that point either. Marks of 28.3 percent and 33.5 percent marred Carrington’s play, as did the career mark of 32.1 percent. It was the biggest knock on his game and prevented him from being up in the discussion of the elite or even very good in the conference.

The 2016-17 season has been an entirely different story than the first two of Carrington’s career though. The Brooklyn native has been damn effective in using 3-pointers as a source of offense as he’s converted on an astonishing 55.3 percent of field goals from beyond the arc this year.

That’s quite an eye-popping number, right? Considering that he was a career 32.1 percent shooter, the fact that Carrington has been shooting over 23 percent his career average is outrageous and downright silly. Surely that number is going to come down and he’ll fall back to where he is, right?

Maybe not so. After digging into the evidence, it appears Carrington has been making the transition to being a cool, calm, collected and competent shooter from outside. All right under our noses, too.

Nine games is a small sample size, but if we were to pull the curtains back a bit, there’s evidence that suggests that Carrington’s showing a tonnage of improvement. In his last 15 games, counting the stretch run of the 2015-16 season (which includes the Big East Tournament and the Pirates’ lone game in the NCAA Tournament vs. Gonzaga), Carrington has knocked down 36 of the 76 3-point attempts he’s put up. That mark is good for a sparkling 47.4 percent, a prodigious mark to say the least.

Further, if we double up and make it the last 18 games of Carrington’s career, the percentage shrinks by just 2.3 percent. 41 of the 91 attempts from the 3-point arc that Khadeen has taken have gone down, and a mark of 45.1 percent is certainly more than worthy of celebration.

Then here’s the percentage over the last 30 games. A landmark of 30 would represent a full regular season’s worth of play, and that stretch indicates more than a competent enough stroke.

Over his last 30 games, Khadeen Carrington has hit on 37.6 percent of his 3-point field goal attempts. While not as gaudy as the aforementioned percentages over his last 15 and 18 games, consider this:

Over a full season, a mark of 37.6 percent would have put Carrington in the company of the following players last year: Kris Dunn (37.2%), Marcus Derrickson (37.6%), Kelan Martin (37.7%), Myles Davis (38.1%), Ron Mvouika (38.2%), Jalen Brunson (38.3%), Isaiah Zierden (38.5%), and Desi Rodriguez and Kris Jenkins (38.6%).

Pretty good company, no?

I don’t think that anyone would suggest that Khadeen Carrington is going to shoot over 55 percent for an entire season. That’s crazy talk, and not something that’s entirely sustainable.

What is probably sustainable however is this stretch that Khadeen finds himself on right now. It’s clear that something’s clicked with him over the last 30 games. The statistical evidence is there and it’s a large enough sample size for you to make the conclusion that Carrington has made the necessary strides to become a reliable shooter from long range.

We’ll see how he deals with the looming bump in the road that he’s probably about to face head on, but this doesn’t seem like much of a flash in the pan anymore. Khadeen might really be the real deal from outside, and if so, he’ll continue to be a serious and much-needed weapon for the Pirates as their season progresses.