Less Becomes More for Improved Watson

Earl Watson, after making only 32.1% of his shots the first six games, has become a better shooter the last five.

By shooting less.

“I’m to the point where I just need to stay in the flow of the game,” Watson said. “Get my teammates shots. Then I get open looks.”

Then he converts, at least lately. Watson was only 39.2% as a freshman and 43.5% last season, then continued the struggles at the start of 1999-2000. It came as the former shooting guard, the full-time starter at the point for the first time, averaged 11 attempts per game.

Two things changed in the last five: His attempts dropped to 8.2 an outing and his accuracy rocketed to 56.1%.

“I’m very pleased the way I’ve been shooting,” Watson said. “But it doesn’t surprise me. I worked on that a lot in the summer because I knew my shot attempts would be limited because we have so many other offensive threats. I knew I could shoot 50%, even if I didn’t get a lot of looks. But now I have to be able to maintain it.”

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Saturday’s 22-point victory at Washington State was the Bruins’ largest conference road win since a 31-point margin in 1988-89 at Oregon.