Miami basketball picked up a significant commitment this week: Oklahoma guard Kameron McGusty elected to transfer to Jim Larranaga’s program.
The 6-foot-5 McGusty played two seasons for the Sooners; he will redshirt in 2018-19, and have two years of eligibility remaining. McGusty, in two seasons, appeared in 63 games, making 25 starts. He averaged 9.4 points and connected on 72 three-pointers.
Offensive Game
As a sophomore, Kameron McGusty played in all 32 games for Oklahoma; he frequently lined up in the backcourt next to point guard wunderkind Trae Young. The marriage between those two wasn’t perfect, though; McGusty’s playing time and usage rate (18.9 percent in 2017-18) dropped from his freshman to sophomore season.
Young finished No. 1 in the nation this season with a usage rate of 38.5 percent, according to KenPom. He was also tops with an assist rate of 48.4 percent.
Back to McGusty: Most of his offensive game is centered around spotting up off the ball. That should fit nicely with Chris Lykes, who will be a junior when McGusty is eligible to return to the floor.
Over his two seasons at OU, scored 216 points on 234 spot-up possessions — 0.92 points per possession, according to Synergy Sports. He shot a combined 80-of-212 on spot-up field goal attempts (37.7 percent). In 2017-18, nearly 40 percent of McGusty’s possessions were of the spot-up variety.
On catch-and-shoot attempts: McGusty went 51-of-137 (37.2 percent) and scored 1.09 points per possession over the course of 63 games.
Next step: How he can better fit at Miami
As we have discussed in this space before, Miami plays a certain brand of basketball on offense: The Hurricanes slow things down, and use ball screens to get north-south.
As a freshman, McGusty used 40 pick-and-roll possessions, which accounts for 10.8 percent of his possessions in 2016-17, per Synergy.
| Possessions | Points | FGM | FGM | TO% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-17 | 40 | 35 | 11 | 29 (37.9 FG%) | 15% |
| 2017-18 | 13 | 17 | 6 | 11 (54.5 FG%) | 7.7% |
A year later — with Young dominating the rock — McGusty took a step back in terms of pick-and-roll usage. According to Synergy, McGusty attempted just 11 field goals out of pick-and-roll; only five percent of McGusty’s sophomore season possessions came out of the pick-and-roll.
It will be interesting to see how McGusty develops in Coral Gables; a redshirt year should provide the wing time to learn the rhythm and timing of Miami’s offense, and work on his dribble-drive game.