FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas guard Mason Jones grabbed a defensive rebound in the second half of the Razorbacks' win at Indiana on Sunday and immediately initiated transition offense.
Jones, dribbling up the left side of the floor, took two steps across halfcourt and fired a pass to Isaiah Joe, who, by the time he caught, was at least 5 feet beyond the recently-extended men's college 3-point line.
In rhythm, Joe launched and connected on a 28-foot 3-pointer to cut the Arkansas deficit to 52-50 with 13:20 to play. It was his second triple of the game from roughly that distance.
"I mean, every time he shoots I think it’s going in," Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said. "I bet if we took a percentage of his deep threes, he probably actually shoots those percentages higher than when his toes are on the line. He’s got such a high basketball IQ. I don’t think that he takes a shot all game that in his heart and mind doesn’t think that that thing’s going in.
"Some of those shots are actually pretty good ones for us, and it also stretches the defense out even if it’s a miss. I think the defense will crowd him and Mason a little bit more and then that opens up the dribble-drive lane for somebody else."
Joe, dating to his high school days, was encouraged by coaches to shoot and shoot often from essentially anywhere on the floor within reason. Fort Smith Northside coach Eric Burnett, who won a state championship with Joe in 2017, gave his star guard the ultimate green light as a sophomore.
“I just told him, ‘Isaiah, when you come across halfcourt you’ve got my blessing to pull the trigger,’” Burnett told WholeHogSports following Joe's 34-point game against Florida International last season. “I’ll be honest, there were times when I got upset with him because he didn’t pull the trigger because I have this thing where after you hit two, three in a row, hey, you let it fly. I don’t care where you’re at.
“Some people will probably think, 'That coach is crazy letting him do that,' but I don’t do that to a lot of kids. But Isaiah worked his tail off to reap the benefits to all the hard work he put in.”
Grad transfer guard Jimmy Whitt, who is third on the team in scoring at 13.5 per game on 53 percent shooting, said he has only played with one player as comfortable as Joe from several steps behind the line - Jahmal McMurray, a former SMU and South Florida guard who shot 38.5 percent from deep in his career on 639 attempts.
"When it comes to confidence from shooting behind that arc they are just about the same," Whitt said. "I’m a little used to it, but you need a guy like that on the team. It opens up a lot for you, and when you can hit big shots like he has all year it’s a great thing to see and be a part of."
Joe, slotted at No. 20 on The Athletic's Sam Vecenie's 2020 NBA Draft Big Board, enters SEC play against Texas A&M on Saturday coming off an impressive month from beyond the arc.
He attempted 10-plus threes in all five of Arkansas' games and has done so in seven straight. Musselman said in the preseason that Joe taking 10-plus threes per game might be the norm.
In December, Joe shot 35.4 percent on 65 3-point attempts, including 39 percent from the left wing and 43 percent on the right wing. Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams, preparing for his first run through the SEC following a five-year run at Virginia Tech, is well aware of Joe's range.
So, how has he gone about preparing for it?
"I don’t know that there’s a succinct answer, to be honest with you," Williams said. "(Arkansas is) shooting 37 percent on shots farther than 25 feet away from the basket. I think he’s going to shoot. I think what you have to try to do is impact the quality of the look as best you can.
"I think they key is 75 percent of the threes he’s made have been assisted, which speaks to the importance of (Whitt) and (Jones), but he can for sure score at an elite level from beyond the arc."
Musselman, while enamored by Joe's touch from distance, added that one of Joe's biggest assets is that he is an unselfish playmaker.
"Its his confidence and late-game ability to make shots that I think kind of separates him," he said. "He definitely has an incredible future ahead of him."