On-Off helps with this a little: opponents take 36.7% of their shots at the rim with Shed in, 31.8% with Shed out. They shoot much worse at the rim with Shed in, which lines up with intuition; 50.5% at rim with Shed in, 56.2% with him out.
I don’t have an explanation for why opponents shoot more at the rim with Shed in though. I will say that the on-off numbers paint a slightly counterintuitive picture that Shed has a bigger impact on the offense than defense, and mostly through lineups with Shed shooting much better at the rim and from 3 than lineups without.
This second point is one I’ve been beating the drum about for a while re: Shedrick that is far less understood about him than his rim protection. He’s not an individually skilled offensive player - but he does command attention and can finish easily when he gets the ball close with an advantage.
Teams don’t switch off of him. Teams stay at home on him near the rim. Teams often send help when he has the ball near the rim, which allows for effective kick outs and he is a good passer. He also demands the largest defender which is great for Gardner who often draws that player when paired with Dunn or BVP. He’s also a good foul shooter.
He’s a very complimentary piece that helps to grease the offense despite not being effective at all at creating his own shot. He doesn’t need to be.
To be clear, I’d love for him to be - but I think people get far too caught up in what he isn’t without realizing how much he still helps.
Clemson has scored more than 90 in 3 of their last 4 games.
They are 2nd in the nation in FT % and shooting 83% in ACC play.
They lead the ACC in 2 Point shooting at 56%.
They are shooting threes on the season at 37% - though a bit lower in ACC play.
They made at least 9 threes in 6 of their last 9 games.
They are also #1 in the ACC in FG defense allowed at 40.5% and #1 in 2 point FG defense.
They do allow a lot of FT attempts at 18 per game - but that probably hurts us at this point.
