Jae’Sean Tate was always going to work on his jump shot this offseason. He just had to go about things in a bit of a different way than originally planned.
After surgery to repair a torn labrum in the left shoulder ended Tate’s sophomore season in February, Ohio State’s now-junior forward had to shut things down for some time. Tate resumed shooting about a month and a half ago, he said Thursday, but again had to alter things a bit when he had a second procedure done — this one to remove a piece of loose cartilage in his right ankle.
That minor operation was about a month ago, athletic trainer Vince O’Brien said, and Tate has about one more week to go in a walking boot before he can get back to moving, cutting and jumping. He is currently rehabbing both injuries.
Despite all of that, the Buckeyes’ “heart and soul,” as head coach Thad Matta described him last year, is still working to improve his jump shot. Tate has been doing what he calls “form shooting” and it helped him develop a consistent routine with his jumper.
“I would go in with a manager and they would rebound for me,” Tate said. “I’d start with one hand and then work my way back to two hands. I just kept doing that, countless times, until I made 10 in a row.”
As a freshman, Tate shot 52.1 percent from the field and a lowly 15.8 percent from behind the 3-point line. Last season as a sophomore, those numbers increased to 58.9 percent overall and 35 percent from downtown. Tate is by no means a long range sniper — he only attempted 40 3s last season, after all — but his improvement from downtown added a different element to his game that forced defenders to at least respect his outside jump shot.
Tate is hoping to see another bump in those percentages this upcoming season as a junior, and even though he’s limited physically this offseason there are ways he’s going about doing so. In addition to his on-court shooting drills, Tate also watched film on himself from last year with newly-hired assistant coach Chris Jent.
Together, the two have retooled Tate’s jump shot a little bit. They’ve raised the release point on Tate’s jumper some and Tate said he’s already feeling the effects of Jent’s instruction despite the fact the two haven’t had a ton of on-court time together.
“We just looked at film and where I need to be and there were some shots that I shot perfectly and there were some shots that I didn’t,” Tate said. “We just tried to make sure that I have a good feel of what I did correct and I take from that.
“The only change I would say is the release. It’s the same form, it’s just a higher release. The muscle memory is there, but it’s not perfect yet.”
It’s hardly surprising Jent would be the one to work with Tate on improving his jump shot. Jent has a proven track record as one of the sport’s best shooting coaches. A few weeks ago, Buckeyes redshirt junior guard Kam Williams joked he had “maybe seen [Jent] miss two shots” since he came back to Ohio State.
Jent’s impact is already being felt within the program, and Tate is hoping to be another player who reaps some of those benefits.
“If you know Chris Jent, he’s one of those guys who doesn’t care he just wants you to get it done and he’s not going to take slack,” Tate said. “You know when you walk in the gym with him you have to give him your all.”
“That’s going to be key for us, every day to come to work and get better than you were the last day. Coach Jent is a coach that makes sure he gets that out of you.”
