No. 4 Luther Head
Some of the players on this list were consistently good three-point shooters who didn’t have to develop their game. And then there are some players who had to form into a great three-point shooter. Luther Head was one of those players.
Head was not a good shooter coming into the Illinois program. He only hit 29.1% of his three-point attempts as a freshman. That number quickly started to rise as the years passed.
As a sophomore, Head upped his attempts from 1.6 to 2.6 three-point attempts per game. He also improved his shooting to 42.4% from three-point range. He then shot 4.9 three-point attempts as a junior in 2003-04, and he hit 34.3% of those shots.
The season that puts Head on the list of the top Illinois three-point shooters of all time is his senior campaign. In 2004-05, Head went off and helped Illinois to the national title game. He showed the world his great athletic ability and even better three-point shooting.
During his senior season, Head attempted 7.3 three-point attempts per game and hit them at a clip of 41.0%. That season ranks in the top 20 in both attempts and shooting percentage among the 102 cases of an Illinois player attempting at least 3.0 three-point attempts per game.
On top of that, Head is one of two players to attempt more than 7.0 three-point shots and hit them at a clip of over 40.0% in the history of the Illinois basketball program.
Another layer on top of Head’s greatness at Illinois is the fact he ranked No. 8 in three-point attempts and No. 5 in three-pointers made in all of college basketball that season.
Head had to grow into his three-point shooting role. Once he started to knock the shots down, the rest was history.