He averaged 15 points but shot just 9-for-28 from the field and 7-of-18 from deep, which is the area that his game is built around.
Though he shot poorly, it wasn’t as if Caldwell-Pope was taking poor shots most of the time, but he nonetheless struggled to knock down open looks and it hurt his team mightily. So far this season he’s averaging 9.6 3-point attempts per game, a number that is entirely too high considering he’s converting just 33% of these opportunities.
For Caldwell-Pope to improve and be looked at as a player who can contribute at the offensive end at the professional level, he’ll have to make strides in his ability to get higher quality shots; he can’t be content settling for 3-pointers and has to work on creating better shots off the bounce. There were times were he attacked the defense but didn’t really have a plan for how he was going to score, and it showed in the form of 4 costly turnovers against UCLA, most of which came when he drove the lane and lost the ball in traffic.
Mikael Hopkins, 6-9, 225, Forward / Center, Sophomore, Georgetown: He showed off a confident and effective mid-range jumper to go along with the ability to power drive (can only go right) to the rim from the free throw line to get his points.
Hopkins has a strong frame that he uses on both ends of the court to establish position, which he willingly fought for against the bigs of UCLA along with Indiana’s prized big man, Zeller. The best part about Hopkins is that if he keeps working on his game it’s tough to see him not improving to the point where he could become a viable NBA player.
His size and energy level at both ends were admirable, and as he continues to develop his offensive game he will become a major threat for the Hoyas both this season and beyond.
Jeremy Bauman is a 2011 Indiana University alum who is an aspiring scout and shooting coach. After covering last June’s NBA finals for this site, he’ll be blogging for SheridanHoops.com during the 2012-13 basketball season. Follow him on Twitter.