A Basketball Season in Review - Guards: Sasha Stefanovic
After giving a brief overview of what happened with the 2019-20 Purdue Basketball Season, let’s take a bit of a deeper dive into the different position groups and the individual players’ performance for the year. This isn’t going to be a game by game breakdown but more of a holistic view of each player and if applicable, what they need to work on moving into next year.
We will start with the Guards as they initiate the offense and are the point of the defense for any given night. In 19-20 Purdue had some issues with consistency from game to game. After a season watching Carsen Edwards run the team and score 15 points plus every night, it became more apparent that this team didn’t have a Carsen Edwards. This team needed someone to step up and make a play when the team needed it most. Guys showed flashes of this in different games, but no one seemed to take the reigns in every game and provide that steady performance the team could build off of. Moving forward to 2020-21, Purdue needs more consistent guard high-level guard play to take pressure away from the interior to always make the plays.
Sasha Stefanovic
Sasha is a player that I think embodied the up-and-down nature of this season. For every game that Sasha was shooting well, there were games where he would completely disappear and be a non-factor in the game. And with the shooting struggles this team had as a whole, this was something Purdue couldn’t afford a lot of.
Preseason
Going into the season, I don’t think the expectations for Sasha were as high as some other guards like Eric Hunter Jr. That being said, he was expected to contribute more on the offensive side of the ball now that both Carsen and Ryan Cline were gone. Sasha played sparingly in 2018-19 averaging just over 11 minutes a game, and I believe that this helped Sasha gain valuable experience without the pressure to step in and contribute immediately.
2019-20 was different, Sasha was taking over the role of a primary shooter and was expected to be a consistent threat from beyond the arc and take care of the ball. In 2018-19 season Sasha averaged 41% from three so many were excited to see what he could do after another offseason to grow and expand his game. I for one was looking forward to seeing what else he was going to bring besides shooting. As a freshman, Sasha wasn’t asked to do much more than shoot the ball and not turn it over. Now moving into his sophomore season, he needed to add something else to his game to consistently find minutes. Would it be assisting teammates? A dribble-drive? Maybe it would be a step up on defense and we could see a role to former player Dakota Mathias? So how was Sasha going to contribute this season?
In-Season Results:
As it turns out, he contributed greatly to multiple areas for this team. He led the team in 3PT% with 38.5%, while increasing his minutes-per-game 2.5X over his freshman year minutes. He was the primary 3 point threat for opposing teams’ scouting report and he knew it. We saw a willingness to drive the ball from Sasha that we haven’t seen from the “Pure shooter” role in some time. The last time we saw the willingness to drive to the basket was with Dakota Mathias and even then, with Dakota, it was a move to get to that mid-range area before pulling up or passing it off to a teammate. We saw Sasha drive to the basket with intent to score as well as facilitate. This added a different dimension to the role that Purdue fans haven’t seen in a long time.
It wasn’t just the offensive side of the ball that saw improvement out of Sasha’s game. In 2018-19 I believe we saw a freshman who wasn’t getting too many minutes and was a bit stiff and inexperienced on defense. You see this sometimes with younger players when they may be scared to make a mistake. With the expanded role in 2019-20 I think we saw Sasha play a lot looser. More experience never hurts either,. and I think we saw this combination of experience and confidence when we saw Sasha end the season with 30 steals. While Sasha isn’t the lockdown defender Dakota Mathias was, he more than handled his own. One of the more surprising statistics you saw at the end of the season was that Sasha ended the season with 9 blocks.
Unfortunately, there are two sides to every coin, and with Sasha we saw nights with great shooting and inspired play. Then we also saw nights where he struggled to shoot the ball. When this happened, it showed when defenses would start to pack the lane when it was obvious that Purdue wasn’t threatening from the outside. This is where the Boilers needed Sasha to step up and make some shots, and he wasn’t always able to do it. This is something that the team needs from Sasha in the long run if they are going to be successful. I think moving forward as Purdue gains more offensive weapons, it will help free up Sasha and take the pressure off somewhat.
SS: 3-Point Shooting
Here are we can watch the first 3 Purdue possessions and see the full potential of Sasha’s shooting. Here he displays shooting out of different forms of motion. A catch and shoot after cutting to the top of the key, off the run across the top of the lane, and lastly, a very Carsen-Esque handoff around a screen rise and fire.
SS: Dribble Drive
Here we see a part of his game that I would love to see more of. Sasha’s ability to come off a dribble hand-off and drive to the basket. An impressive finish against taller Spartan defenders as well.
SS: Clutch Shooting
Here we see Sasha living out every young kid’s dream, hitting a big shot to win the game. This was an excellently designed play by Coach Matt Painter and it got Sasha a wide-open three to pull the Boilers ahead by the final margin. Glad to see the moment wasn’t too big for him.
SS: Opportunistic on Defense
Here we see great help defense for Sasha, as the Michigan State guard Cassius Winston tries to drive to the hoop in transition, Sasha is in a great position and can get the block as well as keep it in bounds to start the Purdue fast-break.
Purdue fans saw a glimpse of what’s possible with Stefanovic and his role on this team. He brought good to great shooting. (With the occasional elite shooting game) He also brought energy and hustle on the defensive side of the ball. While he wasn’t an elite defender, he did more than enough to come out on the positive in my opinion. I’m looking forward to seeing Sasha’s development continue into next year.
Season Stats/Averages: [PurdueSports.com]
GP/GS/Avg Mins/FGM/FGA/FG%/3PT/3PtA/3Pt%/FTM/FTA/FT%/PPG/AvgReb/TotalAST/TotalTO/TotalSTL
30/22/26.4 /85/221/38.5% /64/167/38.3% /40/49/81.6% /9.1 /2.4 /51 /41 /30
Takeaways
Once again, looking at stats doesn’t always tell the whole story for a player. Sasha had a very respectful season statistic-wise. Averaging 9 points an outing, while shooting 38% from both inside and outside the arc. I believe that Sasha’s shooting numbers tell the story for the consistency issues we saw this season. 38% from 3 is a good percentage when all is said and done, but it never felt like his percentage was this high. There were games like Virginia where he pours in 6 of 10 from 3, but on the other side of the coin, there were games like @Marquette(2-6), @Nebraska(2-8), @Michigan(2-8), and vs Rutgers (5-13). Not to mention the 8 other games where he didn’t make a single 3.
Now, while it’s easy to pigeon hole Sasha into the “pure shooter” role, that isn’t his game as a whole. As mentioned before, Sasha showed an aggressiveness to drive to the basket or at least probe in and try to make things happen. Sasha was only held scoreless in one game and that was the road trip to Rutgers, and that was a game no one played that well. Even in games where he didn’t make a three, he would put in a couple from inside the arc or even getting to the free-throw line where he was very good.
Sasha also contributed well on defense as well! You can only really see this in his season steals stat, getting credited with 30 takeaways. Stefanovic was an energy player and always seemed to be sprinting everywhere, and this is a great attitude to have in a player. I believe that as he gains more experience in the program, he has the potential to become a really solid defender for this program. I don’t know if he will reach the level of prowess that, say, Dakota Mathias did; but, I think he could get close. He seems to just have the solid foundation and high basketball IQ necessary to break down the game that way. Having another year under his belt will only help going forward.
Best Game:
This game will probably show up a lot in this section for a lot of the guys on the team. The Virginia game was on a whole another level for the program, the team, and the fan base as a whole. It only feels right after watching Carsen pour in 42 points and some ridiculous three’s in the Elite Eight, that Sasha starts the rematch off by going 3-3 from three and setting the tone for the whole game. It got the crowd involved early, it felt cathartic and seemed the natural way that this game would go. It got the crowd amped early and energized the team for the rest of the game. Add in 4 steals on defense and you have a pretty good game in my opinion. This was a game the team would not be denied. Every guy had their moment, and while I do love the opening sequence by Sasha, I think my favorite moment from this game was his last three. It was an end of the game dagger three and that final moment of celebration before the clock hit 0:00. He put the shot up and the crowd went so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, and as soon as it went in, Mackey exploded from there to the end of the game.
Looking Forward
There are a few things Sasha could work on going forward. The main thing I would like to see Sasha work on going into his Junior season is his consistency in shooting the ball. This is different than just increasing his scoring, as I’m choosing to look at it from the perspective of shot selection, aggressiveness on offense, and taking care of the ball on offense. Shot selection and aggressiveness can sometimes go hand-in-hand as Sasha sometimes got a little too aggressive and took some poor shots from three. There were also moments in games where he would take threes where I think he could have been a little more patient and worked to get a better shot on that possession. I would like to see Sasha be a little more patient making sure that the shots he is getting are good.
In terms of taking care of the ball, Sasha ended the season with 41 turnovers on his sheet. While his assist-to-turnover ratio was over 1, keeping turnovers down is always a key. As a freshman he also struggled with turnovers with an A:T ratio of 16:25, this did improve to 51:41 this year; but I think that he has the opportunity to be a primary facilitator on this team as well as the shooter. His name will always be on the opposing teams scouting report as a shooter first. If he can expand his game to become a facilitator and keep his turnovers down, he truly could become a great offensive piece moving forward.
I for one am very excited about seeing what Sasha can do moving forward!
As always, Boiler Up, Hammer Down, Hail Purdue!
