Top 10 Illinois basketball 3-point shooters of all time

No. 9 Tom Michael

This list was pretty tough, as there were some great seasons out there. The qualifiers in my eyes for Tom Michael weren’t strong, but he did have one great year that earned him a spot in the top 10.

Michael isn’t a longevity three-point shooter. It is not like he put up 6.0 three-point attempts each season. In fact, for his Illinois career, he only averaged 2.9 three-point attempts per season.

The thing that lands Michael on the list of the greatest three-point shooters in program history is the fact he had a great 1991-92 campaign, and he was consistent.

Michael knocked down at least 40% of his three-point attempts all four seasons he was in Champaign. No matter how many three-point attempts you shoot, having that consistency is impressive.

In 1991-92, Michael had a big season. He shot a career-high 5.4 three-point attempts per game and knocked them down at an absurd 49.3%. That is an incredible number.

When looking at the 102 instances of Illinois players averaging at least 3.0 attempts in a season, Michael ranks No. 1 in three-point percentage. He is the only one in program history to attempt at least 3.0 three-point shots per game and hit them at a clip of over 49%.

If Michael had more attempts and his numbers would have stayed the same, he would have easily been higher on this list. But I think the No. 9 spot is right where he should be on the greatest Illinois three-point shooters of all time.