Notre Dame Basketball: I still believe in Prentiss Hubb

Freshman Notre Dame basketball guard Prentiss Hubb has struggled mightily in his first season in South Bend.

Depending on which college basketball prognosticator you favor, the Notre Dame Basketball season has been disappointing. This was to be expected, given the youth on the team, but I think we have beat that horse to death and then some. Some struggles however, have exceeded the norm and continue to cost the Irish quality wins. Shooting numbers are down a bit and injuries continue to plague the program.

One player in particular whose struggles are off the chart is freshman combo guard Prentiss Hubb IV. The 6’2″ Hubb came into the season as one of my freshmen to watch in the ACC, ranking 87th in the final class of 2018 rankings. I thought his game had a polish to it that is rarely seen among high school guards. Even though he was coming off of a significant knee injury, I thought he would be fine. Torn ACL’s are hardly the death sentence they once were.

Through 15 games this season, Hubb is averaging 6.1 points, 3.3 assists and 2.1 rebounds. On the surface those are pretty respectable for an ACC freshman. However, a field goal percentage south of 30 percent while shooting 19 percent from deep and 59 percent from the line is a serious problem.

It hasn’t been all bad. During a four game stretch in mid-to-late November, Prentiss averaged 12.8 points, 4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He also shot 36.8 percent from deep on 19 attempts and 48.7 percent overall from the field. Those performances led me to conclude that I was correct about this young player at the time.

Since then, it has been one kick to the ribs after another for the talented rook. In his last eight contests, he is averaging 3.3 points, shooting 13.1 percent from the field and 8.6 percent from three. Obviously those numbers are really bad. In fact, if Hubb’s numbers were to stand, he would be the first freshman guard in the ACC — going back to 1992-93 — to play more than 450 minutes, attempt more than 60 triples and shoot less than 20 percent from deep.

I am here to tell you that I don’t think that is going to happen. I still believe that Prentiss Hubb IV is a player.

A few things that make me optimistic when it comes to Hubb are pretty simple and easy to fix in my humble opinion:

1. Shoot less triples. In this current eight-game stretch, Prentiss has attempted 61 field goals, 35 of those (57.3%) have been from behind the arc. Sometimes knock down shooters have to just keep shooting until they come out the other side. In this case, I think it is really hurting the young guard’s confidence. Mike Brey has said the Irish need Hubb’s shooting — and they do — but they need him to be confident and capable first.
2. Drive the lane. The aspect that I really liked about Hubb’s game coming into this season was his ability to get into the lane and create havoc. He simply has not done that lately. His ineffectiveness from deep has contributed to this, as defenses are slacking off of him and clogging the lane. He needs to get something going to the hoop. At this point just seeing the ball go through the net would do wonders for the player’s confidence.
3. Get to the line. This is a bi-product of No. 2. Hubb is averaging more than 30 minutes per game and only attempted a single free throw since December 18th — none in his last four games. Again, simply seeing the ball go through the net can do wonders.

As far as everything else, he’s good to go. He is one of only three freshman in the country to play more than 450 minutes, have 50 or more assists and less than 25 turnovers. In fact, he is the only freshman in the ACC  to have played more than 450 minutes and only one of two players in the conference to log those minutes and have more than 50 assists and 40 rebounds.

Let us not forget, this young man missed his senior season of high school. He went from being a junior H.S. basketball, completed an ACL rehab and and dove straight into 30 minutes per game at an ACC program.

Let’s cut him some slack.

I am sure nobody is more aware of his struggles more than he is. Let him catch his breath, let Coach Brey coach him up and let the game slow down a bit for him. He’ll be fine.