The TCU basketball team doesn’t have too much to offer to their fans or college basketball with the program praying for the day they will see some success. But they do offer one special talent by way of senior point guard Kyan Anderson and he’s one of the best the country has to offer.
Due to the lack of any success over the recent seasons, Anderson’s name is rarely seen in the light of college hoops’ mainstream exposure, resulting in most of the nation being unfamiliar one of the Big 12’s scoring leaders.
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Anderson’s ability to fill the stat sheet has increased noticeably since the days of his freshman season, where he racked up 8.3 points and 2.8 assists per night. Fast-forward to his junior season and he’s putting up 17 points and 4.5 assists per, good enough for sixth in scoring and seventh in assists in the conference, respectively.
His senior year, these numbers will jump once again as he looks to continue to sculpt an already well-rounded offensive game.
Along with his craftiness handling the rock, lights out as a shooter. Helping contribute to his 47 percent shooting efficiency is his lethal ability utilizing the lost art of a mid-range jumper and quickness he shows off on his usual blow-by to the rim.
Because of his fearlessness charging the rim, Anderson saw the free throw line 187 times last season, knocking down 85 percent of those attempts. Then of course, he’s a confident shooter from beyond the arc, where he was good on 40 percent of his 113 attempts.
As a shooter, his increases his percentages and scoring numbers can be attributed to a number of things. Anderson is very composed offensively and has a handle that can free up nearly every look at the basket.
But he has also developed into a very confident scorer, even when in traffic where his quick release has helped him considerably.
Anderson’s offensive abilities aren’t just limited to scoring though. As a facilitator, the threat of his scoring ability and breakdown capability of his ball handling go hand-in-hand towards his assist numbers.
His teammates are constantly found open with Anderson always being the primary target for opposing defenses that can’t stop his drive and dish tendencies.
As for what Anderson showed us on the defensive side of the court last season …well, he’s a defensive nightmare in the passing lanes. After stealing 43 passes as a junior, Kyan has established himself as a defensive presence out on the perimeter, hunting for sloppy passes.
However, Anderson still has his final season in college ahead of him and he has more than enough to work on if he has any hopes of helping the Horned Frogs see any wins in the Big 12.
The first statistic that stands out his Anderson throwing up on 11 shots per game. To put up 17 points per night on only 11 attempts in college is impressive in itself, but for a scorer of his ability, 11 shots should only be the tip of the iceberg.
Aggressiveness as the team’s primary option needs to increase next season and there should be anybody who should have a problem with Anderson putting up between 15-17 shots every game.
As crazy as it may sound, the aggressiveness as a scorer is really the only thing that pops out as an area for improvement for Anderson. Of course, he needs to cut down the 2.9 turnovers per game number, which should happen as he understands the game more each year.
His shooting efficiency should see its usual improvements as well, but the only real weakness is his aggressiveness and that’s a stretch to even call it a “weakness.”
Regardless of how vast Anderson’s strides are over the offseason, don’t count on it being enough for him to make TCU relevant during the 2014-15 campaign. What these further improvements will do, though, is elevate Anderson’s game even further, to where he finally see’s some well-deserved national attention.
You might not know much about Anderson as of now, but before next season ends, the whole nation and NBA scouts alike will have the name Kyan Anderson on their radar.