The Grinnell men's basketball team took 111 shots Thursday. Every one was a 3-pointer.

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The Grinnell men's basketball team took 111 shots Thursday. Every one was a 3-pointer.

The Grinnell men’s basketball team is well known not only for its fast-paced, high-scoring offense but also its habit of trying to break records.

The Pioneers chased down another Thursday.

Grinnell tossed up a whopping 111 3-point attempts during a 124-67 home victory over Emmaus Bible College at Darby Gymnasium. All 111 of the field-goal attempts the Pioneers took were from beyond the arc.

"It was something that I had wondered if it was possible for probably the last decade, just thinking about it, exactly how it would work, would it be actually even feasible to do this for an entire game and if you did it, what would your shooting percentage look like what could potentially be some of the other benefits in trying to play a game where you only attempted 3-point shots," said Grinnell coach David Arseneault Jr. "It was certainly an interesting experiment."

The Pioneers connected on 40 of those attempts. The 4 other points scored by Grinnell came from the free throw line. According to the school, the 111 3-point attempts are an NCAA single-game record across any level. It was a goal of the team which runs an offense they call “The System,” that relies on a high volume of 3-point shots, layups and mass substitutions.

Going into the game, Arseneault Jr. said he hoped it could help jumpstart his team, which was having trouble shooting from beyond the arc. Arseneault Jr., missed the game with a non-COVID related illness. Assistant coach DJ Damazo filled in for him during the historic game.

"I can't believe nobody stepped on the line while taking a 3," Arseneault Jr. said. "Or somebody, just in kind of the moment didn't when getting an offensive rebound just immediately flip it back up there real quick."

The team stuck to the plan perfectly.

Adam Phillips scored 36 points for Grinnell on 12-of-24 shooting from the field. Moze Thurmgreene added 24 on 8-16 shooting.

It’s another record for the Pioneers, who are familiar with making college basketball history. Back in 2012, Grinnell guard Jack Taylor broke the NCAA single-game scoring mark by pouring on 138 points during a win over Faith Baptist Bible College.

Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018 and 2020 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at [email protected] or 515-284-8468. Follow him on Twitter @TommyBirch.

LaserBeamsCattleProd on December 13rd, 2022 at 16:22 UTC »

Grinnell has been playing this insane type of basketball for years.

I don't understand how Grinnell's bigs didn't get an offensive rebound or tip-in. I am guessing that shooting zero two pointers was their goal.

In the clip, it shows the defense playing a traditional zone defense. After a while, the D should just load up everyone on the perimeter and leave the paint wide open. Dare them to shoot contested 3's or make wide open layups. It would be an interesting game to watch.

jomyke on December 13rd, 2022 at 16:19 UTC »

this has been their core strategy for 30 years or more. recruit 6' speedy ballhandler 3 point specialist and trade threes for 2's. the opposing team % shooting from the field will be near 100% too; a big can pretty much dunk on them every trip down the floor. but with a high enough % of threes eventually it works a reasonable amount for them. simultaneously interesting and frustrating to play against.

RonPMexico on December 13rd, 2022 at 15:22 UTC »

The craziest thing? It worked.