City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
--

It wasn’t in the span of one offseason that Matt Klinewski went from having no interest in shooting the 3-point shot to suddenly becoming a gunner from beyond the arc. It just looks that way.

In his first three years at Lafayette, Klinewski took a grand total of four 3-pointers, missing all of them. But the Eastern (N.J.) product, a 6-foot-8 forward, was plenty skilled on the offensive end, averaging 13.3 ppg as a sophomore and 16.0 ppg as a junior.

His speciality was the mid-range jumper, where head coach Fran O’Hanlon estimates Klinewski is “probably a 70-percent shooter” over the past couple years.

But despite his face-up ability and shooting touch, Klinewski didn’t want to take another step or two back.

“In high school, I started shooting the ‘3’, I knew I could shoot it,” Klinewski said. “And then I came to Lafayette, and had to get comfortable with the system, get comfortable with the inside game.

Finally, this offseason, he decided he was ready.

Klinewski said he spent the summer working with Lafayette assistant Jimmy Fenerty and the rest of the Leopards’ coaches

Coach Fenerty, all the coaches have faith in me making the shot. That gave me a lot of confidence, and it’s [just] another step back.”

Through the first two games of the season, Klinewski unleashed eight 3-pointers, making seven of them. That included a 4-of-5 showing in the season opener at George Mason, and then a 3-for-3 showing at NJIT on Tuesday.

It’s clear that didn’t just happen overnight. So what changed?

“Just confidence,” Klinewski said. “Confidence in my shot. Last year I hit a lot of my mid-range jump shots, and I was like, why don’t you take one more step back, work on it and just be there.”

“He’s got a very even stroke, not a lot of hitch in it and he just puts it in,” O’Hanlon added.

Lafayette hasn’t had a big man who could really stretch the floor for several years. Seth Hinrichs was 6-8 and a terrific 3-point shooter, but he was much more of a wing/forward than Klinewski, who’s a true ‘4’ with a little ‘5’ mixed in. Levi Guese, a 6-9 big man, hit 32 percent of his 138 triples as a senior in 2012-13, but he was the last “stretch-5” to be featured on the Lafayette roster.

This year, the Leopards have not just Klinewski but several other bigs who can shoot it. Freshman Dylan Hastings, a 6-9 forward from Solanco (Pa.), was 3-of-4 from 3-point range against NJIT. Lukas Jarrett, a 6-7 sophomore, has hit two of the five triples he’s taken this season.

“I grew up playing in Europe so obviously...I always wanted to have some stretch,” said O’Hanlon, who both played and coached in several European leagues in the 1970s and 80s before coming back to the US to take over the Bonner program in 1986. “It’s one of the things in recruiting, I say we need you to be able to play inside and outside.”

The added offensive element should help a Leopards squad this year that is relying on several freshmen and sophomores in key roles, but ultimately it’s the other end of the floor that’s been a problem for Lafayette teams recently. That’s continuing to show up this season, as they gave up 96 points to NJIT on Tuesday while allowing the Highlanders to hit more than 50 percent of their 2-pointers and 3-pointers.

“Our defense needs to get a lot better,” Klinewski said. “Defense has not been good. Young guys can score the ball, which is good to see, but it’s not going to help us if we don’t get a stop on defense.”