He shot 41.7% last year, second on the team to Andrew Welage’s 45.2 clip.
He’s averaging 21.3 points and has been the Raiders’ only consistent threat from 3. The rest of the team is 8 of 46 for 17.4%.
“My teammates find me a lot, and my coaches let me shoot,” said Huibregtse, who on Monday was named Horizon League Player of the Week. “I’m not going to take anything too crazy. But pretty much any shot I feel confident in and I work on, I’m going to shoot it.”
But while the coaches trust his judgment, they’re also making him aware that certain game situations require caution.
The green light sometimes blinks yellow.
“I can remember a couple transition 3′s last year that I got yelled at for. Sometimes, they’re not very timely,” he said.
“If the other team is on a run, and you shoot a quick 3, that’s not good. But I try to shoot mainly open ones, not too contested.”
The Raiders finished ninth in the nation last year in 3-point percentage at 38.3.
That’s the program’s best rate since hitting 38.8% in 2007-08. That team, which finished 21-10, had three proficient shooters from deep: Vaughn Duggins (39.7%), Todd Brown (42.3) and Scottie Wilson (47.3).
The Raiders had three other seasons of 37% or better in the eight years under Scott Nagy, and if the current squad is going to get there, they’ll have to climb out of a hole.
They were 5 of 27 at Kentucky, 6 of 17 against Ohio Christian and 6 of 22 at Miami for 27.7%.
But first-year coach Clint Sargent is just as much a proponent of 3′s as Nagy, though with some limits.
“I want inside-out (3′s),” he said, meaning a pass to the post to draw the defense in and then kicking it out. “I think you’ve got to establish playing inside-out. Those are great 3′s.”
Junior forward Brandon Noel, the preseason HL player of the year, is too much of a danger in the paint to not get ample touches, so that part’s easy.
He’s the league’s second-leading scorer at 21.7 per game, while Huibregtse is third.
“I want to lead with a physicality with how we do everything,” Sargent said. “When it comes to 3′s, we want the right guys taking them. You’ve got guys like Alex and Andrew and Keaton (Norris) — he’s a knockdown shooter, and it’s just going to be a matter of time for him.”
Norris, the junior point guard, missed his first 11 shots this season after taking a redshirt year in 2023-24 and is shooting 18.8% overall.
But he went 39 of 111 (35.1%) from 3 while making 21 starts his first two years.
“We just are hunting ‘rhythm’ 3′s, preferably inside-out,” Sargent said.
About the Author