STARKVILLE — It didn’t take the summer for Dominique Dillingham to realize 1,000 shots isn’t very many.
Dillingham has been playing basketball long enough to know she has taken closer to 10,000 shots in her career. But when you’re used to doing so many other things on the court and you then focus on one aspect of your game, you begin to realize how long it takes to affect a change.
So while some of Dillingham’s Mississippi State women’s basketball teammates worked on their ballhandling, learned new positions, or polished their touch around the basket, Dillingham practiced shooting. Whether it was on “the gun,” a machine that acts as an automatic rebounder and feeds balls back to you, or by herself, tens became hundreds and hundreds became thousands of shots.
As the shots mounted, the plastic shooting apparatus Dillingham had been asked to wear on her left hand began to feel less and less noticeable. A few months later, Dillingham is eager to show off the new shooting form she worked hard to perfect. The junior forward will get a chance to do that Tuesday when the MSU women hold their first practice of the 2015-16 season.
For Dillingham, the offseason work has been designed to help her develop into a more consistent offensive threat. Ideally, the shooting work will help her balance the floor with sophomore Victoria Vivians and enable her to make teams pay if they leave her alone inside or outside the 3-point arc.
“It is kind of automatic once you start doing it so many times,” Dillingham said of working with the piece of plastic on her left hand, which she uses as her guide hand. “Sometimes you go back to the old ways, but once you do it enough times you get it right. I don’t really notice it.”
Shooting touch
Dillingham used the shooting apparatus after being challenged by MSU coach Vic Schaefer, who urged her to improve her shooting percentage to 40 percent. A year ago, Dillingham shot 35.1 percent from the field (33.3 percent in Southeastern Conference regular season) and 35.3 percent from 3-point range. In issuing the challenge, Schaefer told Dillingham he planned to run more sets on offense for her so she better be ready to play a bigger role.
Dillingham, a 5-foot-9 guard, welcomed the news and set out to change her shooting stroke from one in which her left hand sometimes went into her shot and affected the rotation to one in which her left hand remained straight. Attending both sessions of summer school gave Dillingham plenty of time to work on her shot. Looking back, to the start of the summer, she believes her shots have a lot better rotation and that she is ready to improve her shooting percentages and her scoring average. Last season, Dillingham was sixth on the team in scoring.
Schaefer said he wouldn’t have asked Dillingham to work on her shot if he didn’t think she couldn’t improve it. He has praised Dillingham numerous times over the years for the value she brings to the court and her ability to make hustle plays, to take charges, to defend, and to rebound. He believes added scoring punch will help make Dillingham a more well-rounded player.
“The one thing Dom has done in the two years she has been here is she has made some very big shots, probably more bit shots than anybody on the team,” Schaefer said. “I have a lot of confidence in Dom, and that’s why I am asking her to work on her offensive game.”
Dillingham was sixth on the team in scoring last season (5.7 points per game). She also was tied for third in rebounding (5.0 per game), third in assists (60), first in steals (69), first in minutes (31.1), and first in charges taken, even though that isn’t an official statistic. Dillingham also has developed a reputation for being the team’s best defender, so she usually is paired against an opponent’s best offensive player. All of those things can weigh on a player’s shooting percentage, but Schaefer loves all of the other things Dillingham does, so he wants her on the court as much as possible.
Lots of confidence
Dillingham said Schaefer’s confidence motivated her in the offseason. She said it is exciting to know he is going to run more plays for her. Now, she said, she has to live up to her end and deliver when the set is called.
“I remember when I first started shooting (with the piece of plastic on her left hand) I couldn’t even get it to the rim because it is really hard,” Dillingham said. “You’re basically shooting with one hand, but I got the hang of it. I am definitely used to it now.
“I definitely have more arc on my shot now that I have been shooting with that on my hand and with the gun. It helped my rotation, too. I don’t have that weird off-spin anymore.”
Dillingham said she has been shooting above 60 percent from mid-range (about 15 feet). She said managers have charted her shooting percentages from behind the 3-point arc, but she doesn’t know those percentages.
Dillingham believes the increased confidence in her shooting will help her have a great junior season. She understands the expectations MSU faces being ranked in the top 10 of two preseason polls (No. 6 Athlon Sports, No. 8 Lindy’s), which is another reason she wanted to get in the gym and become a better offensive player.
“In the back of my head, it is going to be I have to do more for us to do good,” Dillingham said. “We have a lot of weapons, but we don’t have KG (Kendra Grant) from last year, so I am going to have to do more offensively.”
When asked about her use of the word “have” in her answer, Dillingham said she wanted to shoulder a bigger role on offense and she welcomed the challenge. That’s why she wasn’t able to come up with a final tally of the shots she took in the offseason. It’s safe to say it was well more than 1,000.
“I know I can do it,” Dillingham said. “I have to do it.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.