Watch it in IMAX: Scouting Louisville’s Isaac McKneely
A detailed analysis on one of the best shooters in the country — what makes McKneely so tough to stop and why he's in the perfect offensive ecosystem at Louisville
Wherever Isaac McKneely goes on the court, he attracts attention. The opposing defense must know where he is at all times. So, it was fitting that when McKneely was a highly-sought after prospect when on the move in the transfer portal this offseason. In the end, Louisville won out for McKneely. It’s an excellent fit for both parties as McKneely, one of the premier 3-point bombers in college hoops, heads west to join Louisville’s high-octane offense.
Let’s dive in to see what exactly McKneely brings to the table, along with some of the ways Louisville can best tap into his skill set.
Quick Numbers: Isaac McKneely
It took McKneely only three seasons in Charlottesville — where he emerged as the last great shooter of the Tony Bennett era, a stretch that included Joe Harris, Malcolm Brogdon, London Perrantes, Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, Sam Hauser, Jay Huff and Trey Murphy, among others — to etch his name in near the top of UVA’s record book. McKneely finished Top 5 in program history in 3-pointers (233) and 3-point percentage (42.2 3P%). McKneely became just the third Cavalier to make 100+ 3-pointers in a season, along with Guy and Curtis Staples.
Looking outside the program, McKneely is one of only 10 high-major players since the 2007-08 season to play 50+ games, attempt 12 or more 3-pointers per 100 possessions and shoot above 42 percent from deep, according to Bart Torvik’s database.
During the 2024-25 season, even as he moved to the top of the scouting report for UVA, McKneely put together his most impressive shooting display: 101-of-240 3-point attempts (42.1 3P%). McKneely became one of only 13 high-major players since the 2007-08 season to launch 14+ 3-point attempts per 100 possessions and shoot above 42 percent from deep. McKneely is the only one from that group of 13 to hit those benchmarks and post an assist rate north above 15 percent (19.0 percent) in the same season, showcasing his development as a playmaker.
Movement Shooting
The piece that makes McKneely’s 3-point shooting so special is his ability to let it rip off of hard movement. He’s elite. McKneely has all of the tools to unlock a defense as a gravity-bending movement shooter, who can warp coverages by running around screens, while also providing some tertiary playmaking.
Starting from the ground up, McKneely has excellent shot prep and footwork. McKneely showcased these traits on Day 1 at Virginia; however, it’s clearly something that was drilled into his game over the last three years. There’s a high-level understanding for how to read coverages and set up his defender. He knows when to fade if a defender is cheating under the screen and trying to shoot the gap, or when to curl hard if the defenders pursues from behind.
In this Blocker Mover set, McKneely will launch into the action with a V-cut and swim move on Clemson’s Chase Hunter (1), before coming flat off Jacob Cofie’s (5) pindown and squaring to the rim.
He’s quick and bendy when exiting screens — regardless of whether he’s curling to the ball, running flat or flaring away. As a quick-trigger shooter, McKneely routinely creates separation when running off different actions, and he has excellent touch (81 FT% career) from multiple levels of the floor.
Those reads are especially precise, as is his footwork, when he’s trying to separate from a top-shelf athlete.
On this possession, McKneely runs the baseline around a down screen from Blake Buchanan (0). With Wooga Poplar (5), a rangy defender, chasing from behind, McKneely chops his feet coming off the screen, hard curls and uses a dribble to create a little more separation before lifting for an elbow jumper.
There are a lot of moving parts in these scenarios, but McKneely’s setup is excellent. McKneely gets himself squared to the rim while on the move, and he has outstanding alignment towards the rim: hips, feet and shoulders. Even with an occasional right leg kick, he stays on balance. McKneely pairs that fluidity and coordination with his lower body strength, which allows him to shoot efficiently with deep range.
Here, McKneely runs off a flare screen from Elijah Saunders (2) in early offense against Clemson, drawing a switch with Ian Schieffelin (4) and Dillon Hunter (2). McKneely feeds Saunders in the post against the smaller Hunter. Instead of remaining stagnant, though, McKneely performs another V-cut along the perimeter — walking Schieffelin towards the top of the key before sprinting over to receive a handoff from Saunders.
McKneely’s motor runs hot and he’s constantly in motion. On this play, Virginia runs its Inside Motion series against Miami in the 2023-24 season.
In the span of 20 seconds — as UVA forms the triangle of inside motion with McKneely, Buchanan and Jake Groves (34) — McKneely sets multiple screens, initiates a ball screen and runs off multiple screens, including a pindown from Buchanan that frees him for a catch-and-shoot triple.
Plus, McKneely has a deep bag of subtle moves to create separation coming off screens. He understands the dark arts of off-ball movement — like on this Blocker Mover possession, where he curls off a down screen into the middle, then suddenly spins and dribbles back the other way, catching Tyrese Proctor (5) off guard.
Here’s that same little reverse spin move against Wake Forest. This time, his defender, Cam Hildreth (6), stays with McKneely but sells out on contesting a potential 3-point look. McKneely counters and snakes back across the screen, getting to the elbow for a midrange pull-up.
Even when defenders manage to stay with McKneely through various screening actions, his explosiveness into his shooting motion allows him — at 6-foot-4 — to rise up and shoot over the top. He needs very little separation to start his gather.
As McKneely runs toward the corner off a Blocker Mover flare screen, Hildreth is right in his grill; however, he’s able to rise up, get into his motion and drill another 3-ball.
The tough shot-making component of McKneely’s game is just undeniable. The defense can do everything right while navigating these off-ball actions, and he can still manage to get to his spots and connect on difficult looks.
From the 2023-24 season: McKneely hits Hunter with the same V-cut into a down screen in Virginia’s Blocker Mover. Two defenders lunge out at McKneely, including Hunter, who chases tightly off the screen. McKneely rises, kicks his leg out and gets fouled, while staying on balance to hit from deep.
McKneely has drawn 15 career shooting fouls on 3-point attempts, including a combined 14 over the last two seasons, per CBB Analytics.
Getting off the ball
Creating more of a challenge for his defenders, McKneely is also a clever passer in these movement opportunities. He possesses the gravity to draw a second defender to the ball when coming off a screen, which helps create half-court advantages, and he can make quick decisions with the ball to find open teammates.
Here, McKneely curls a baseline pindown at SMU. As he exits the screen, McKneely keeps his defender on his hip and probes into the paint, which forces SMU center Samet Yigitoglu (24) to take a step in his direction, leaving Buchanan open for a dunk on the dive.
Back at Wake Forest, McKneely glides off the Blocker Mover down screen, curling left toward the paint. He receives the pass in space with Efton Reid (4) in drop coverage. As McKneely drives, Tre’Von Spillers (25), shows help at the nail, leaving Saunders open in the short corner. McKneely makes the easy read.
Given how much shooting talent will be on the floor for Louisville next season, these types of quick reads, playing off his gravity, should help open things for Mikel Brown, Adrian Wooley and Ryan Conwell. The overall shooting talent on the roster will forces defenses to cover a lot of ground.
When McKneely gets off the ball in these situations, he doesn’t remain stationary. He’ll continue to move and look for relocation opportunities. For instance: McKneely curls and separates from Duke’s Mason Gillis (18), pulling in Patrick Ngongba (21) as a help defender in the paint. The Blue Devils aren’t worried about Buchanan, a non-shooter, spacing to the arc, but McKneely counters beautifully by initiating an impromptu give-and-go with his center — passing to Buchanan and immediately chasing after the ball, snapping into a handoff and getting an open look from deep — with Ngonba still sunk in the paint.
That’s an outstanding relocation effort from McKneely. It shows his feel for the game, and it’s this type of activity that’ll blend well with Louisville’s bigs, including Aly Khalifa, a solid high-post handoff hub.
Down at SMU, Virginia runs Blocker Mover late in the shot clock. McKneely gets stuck with the ball and no advantage with seven seconds left on the shot clock. Looking to make something out of nothing, McKneely drives at Boopie Miller (2), which creates the kick-out and a closeout attack for Cofie. As Cofie drives, McKneely balances the floor and spaces back out — opening up a kick-out pass and an assist for the freshman forward.
Last season, McKneely shot 39.1 percent 69 3-point attempts with 10 or fewer seconds on the shot clock, according to CBB Analytics.
The Hoos run Inside Motion here against NC State. McKneely walks the ball up and gets UVA into its set. It looks as though Saunders is set up to set a back screen for McKneely, which catches the eyes of his defender, Michael O’Connell (12). With O’Connell’s head turned away from the ball, McKneely plants his right foot and sprints in the opposite direction, flying off a screen from Buchanan and hitting a 3-pointer over MOC’s recovery effort.
Deep Range
In many ways, McKneely was the ideal shooting guard for Bennett’s offense — where he could run around an endless series of down screens and flare screens in Blocker Mover continuity, Virginia’s inside motion concepts and after-timeout specials.
As the program pivoted to Ron Sanchez, a Bennett disciple, ahead of the 2024-25 season, the Hoos altered their playbook, mixing in more 5-out actions, along with plenty tried-and-true Blocker Mover.
In the new-ish offense, McKneely continued to hum. According to CBB Analytics, McKneely shot 41.1 percent on NBA-range 3-point attempts last season (214 3PA). This marked the third season that McKneely shot above 40 percent on NBA-range 3-pointers. For his career, McKneely is a 43.6 percent shooter on NBA-range 3-point attempts — with nearly 87 percent of his 3-point attempts (479 3PA of 552 3PA) coming from this deeper distance.
NBA Range 3-point Shooting
2024-25 season: 214 3PA from NBA range, 89% of 3PA, 41.1 3P%
2023-24 season: 158 3PA from NBA range, 87% of 3PA, 48.7 3P%
2022-23 season: 107 3PA from NBA range, 82% of 3PA, 40.2 3P%
NBA Range 3-point Makes
2024-25 season: 88 3PM
2023-24 season: 77 3PM
2022-23 season: 43 3PM
Shooting off the bounce — from multiple levels
While McKneely bases his game around his ability to let it fly off the catch, he showed increased shot versatility last season. With Reece Beekman in the NBA, McKneely had to create on his own more as a junior: 13.9 percent of his 3-pointers were unassisted — a jump from his sophomore (8.6 percent) and freshman seasons (3.9 percent).
His shot principles translate from the catch-and-shoots. McKneely has a compact and smooth release off the dribble, plus he shoots it with plenty of confidence. If he dribbles off a ball screen, and the opposing 5 is below the level of the screen in drop coverage, McKneely will look for his pull-up jumper.
During his sophomore season, 73.9 percent of McKneely’s long 2-point jumpers were assisted, as he shot 36.8 percent from this range, according to Bart Torvik. The “Wheel” component of Blocker Mover offense results in its fair share of midrange jumpers off curl actions.
With less volume, McKneely shot 50 percent on longer 2-point attempts last season, while flipping that previous assisted field goal ratio on its head. According to Bart Tovrik’s shot data, only 25.8 percent of his makes from this range were assisted.
When McKneely drives but is unable to turn, he can look for his step-back jumper or spin off and get to his fadeaway. Given his so-so athleticism in terms of burst with the basketball, McKneely attacks more efficiently with a screen. However, thanks to his size and touch, he can provide some isolated midrange scoring as well.
Digging a little further into the data: in the 2023-24 season, per CBB Analytics, McKneely averaged 3.3 2-point attempts from outside the paint per 40 minutes (91st percentile nationally) — 26.3 percent of his total field goal attempts.
This range made up a much smaller percentage of McKneely’s shot diet as a junior, though. He averaged 1.7 2-point attempts from outside the paint per 40 minutes, which accounted for 13.3 percent of his attempts. He also shot a sizzling 56.5 percent on those outside-the-paint 2-pointers (95th percentile), including some self-created looks. Lower volume, higher efficiency.
On this Blocker Mover possession, as the screening actions take place on the sides, McKneely elects to attack Hunter Sallis (23) 1-on-1, getting to the midrange and creating enough space for a step-back 2.
Virginia’s offense made some modest efficiency strides in the 2024-25 season, while McKneely doubled his unassisted field goals per 40 minutes from his sophomore to junior season — jumping from 0.9 to 1.8.
2024-25 season: 1.8 unassisted FGM per 40 minutes
2023-24 season: 0.9 unassisted FGM per 40 minutes
2022-23 season: 0.8 unassisted FGM per 40 minutes
To be clear, 1.8 unassisted field goals per 40 minutes isn’t a high number for a shooting guard (38th percentile). That said, it’s perfectly fine for McKneely’s role and archetype, working as a nice complement to his movement shooting profile.
Improvements as a playmaker
After showing some playmaking flashes during the 2023-24 season, McKneely was tasked with taking on more of the creation load for Virginia last year, especially after Jalen Warley opted to transfer out of Virginia a week before the season started following Bennett’s retirement. Without Warley, UVA reoriented its offense, which ranked third nationally with an assist rate of 63.6 percent, around the playmaking trio of McKneely (19.1 percent assist rate), Ames (16.9 percent assist rate) and Andrew Rohde (29.6 percent assist rate).
As McKneely’s usage rate (21.6 percent) and assist numbers climbed, his turnovers stayed quite low: 1.7 turnovers per 40 minutes. McKeely was one of only two high-major players last season — along with Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton — with 18 percent assist rate, sub-13 percent turnover rate and 40 percent shooting on 3-point attempts. According to CBB Analytics, McKneely combined to score or assist on 688 points last season, easily the most on Virginia’s roster.
Obviously, he isn’t a pure breakdown player, nor is he a primary creator, like Thornton. McKneely isn’t designed to routinely touch the paint against a set defense. He’s much better suited to taking the top off a defense with his 3-point shooting. That said, McKneely is capable of putting the ball on the floor a few times and making good decisions.
Virginia opens the game against Duke last season with empty-side pick-and-roll between McKneely and Cofie, which Kon Knueppel (7) and Cooper Flagg (2) switch. Flagg closes out high on McKneely, pressuring the dangerous shooter several feet above the arc. McKneely counters and blows by the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. As the help slides over, McKneely reads the coverage and slides in a nifty pass to Buchanan for a rim finish.
McKneely does the majority of his damage from beyond the arc. He isn’t a huge source of rim pressure or foul creation. McKneely recorded only one dunk in 98 career games at UVA — and it wasn’t self-created. According to my charting, Beekman found McKneely on a backdoor cut for his only career flush as a freshman against Louisville.
He shot just 45.5 percent on layup attempts this season and less than 10 percent of his field goal attempts came at the rim, per CBB Analytics. However, he can leverage the threat of his 3-point shot to get defenders to press up on him, which can open up angles for him to drive. McKneely is a below-the-rim finisher, but he flashes nice craft on some live-ball finishes in the paint — using his touch to extend for quick-flip or reverse finishes.
Here’s McKneely’s shot chart from the 2024-25 season, per CBB Analytics.
Unsurprisingly, McKneely doesn’t draw many fouls. He drew just 23 shooting fouls last season, nine of which resulted in and-1 opportunities. However, as his usage increased, McKneely has gotten to the line a little more each season — going from a free-throw attempt rate of 13.2 percent as a freshman to 20.2 percent last season.
Given his combination of shooting and playmaking, McKneely had a huge impact on the overall efficiency of Virginia’s offense. With McKneely on the floor last season, the Cavaliers scored 108.3 points per 100 possessions (53.3 eFG%), while shooting 37.7 percent on 3-point attempts (90th percentile) and 50.9 percent on 2s. When McKneely sat, UVA scored nearly six fewer points per 100 possessions (102.4) as its shooting percentages slipped, too: 44.1 percent on 2s and 36.5 percent on 3s.
Role / Fit: Louisville’s system
On paper, McKneely projects as a perfect addition for Louisville. Stylistically, the fit is seamless. Pat Kelsey’s teams play fast and shoot a lot of 3s. The increase in tempo will be a bit of a philosophical shift for McKneely. However, he should scale nicely to the new approach as it fits his strengths as a long-range bomber.
In 13 seasons as a head coach, Kelsey’s teams have finished with a 3-point attempt rate above 40 percent on eight occasions, including the last three seasons with 3-points attempt rates above 46.5 percent, ranking inside the Top 20 nationally each year. The Cards attempted 999 3-pointers last season, with 294 of those attempts (29.4 percent) coming within the first 10 seconds of the shot clock, per CBB Analytics. As a comparison, 84 of Virginia’s 708 3-point attempts (11.9 percent) came within the first 10 seconds of the shot clock.
Kelsey’s Moneyball approach to offense extends to the team’s overall shot profile. According to CBB Analytics, Louisville averaged just 2.9 2-point attempts per game from outside the paint — less than five percent of their total attempts, one of the lowest rates in the country.
Given Louisville’s abundance of shooters and on-ball creators, McKneely may see a slight decline in usage. However, there’s a strong case that his overall efficiency could significantly improve. Opponents won’t be able to dedicate the same number of resources to stopping him as they did last season. He’ll attract less defensive attention, get more high-quality looks and operate in a system designed to generate plenty of catch-and-shoot threes. It certainly won’t hurt getting to spot-up around the pick-and-roll dynamism of Mikel Brown.
The closest facsimile to McKneely on Louisville’s roster last season was Australian sharpshooter Ryne Smith, who followed Kelsey from Charleston to Louisville for his final season of college hoops.
In four seasons under Kelsey, Smith launched 1,060 3-point attempts, but he saved his best for last. During the 2024-25 season, Smith was one of the premier shooters in the country (37.9 3P%), launching a ridiculous 17.3 3-point attempts per 100 possessions — second most nationally among high-major players who appeared in at least 40 percent of their team’s minutes. In fact, Smith and McKneely (14.2 3PA per 100) finished first and second, respectively, in the ACC in 3-point attempts per 100 possessions, although if you include players who appeared in at least 30 percent of their team’s minutes, Duke’s Isaiah Evans (18.1 3PA per 100) usurps Smith.
While Kelsey drew up plenty of creative ways to scheme open 3-point looks for Smith, one of Louisville’s primary methods for unlocking half-court offense involved turning the 6-foot-2 Smith into a prolific screener. (McKneely and Conwell are in line to see similar roles next season.)
It’s a clever tactic to utilize your best shooters as screeners. By simply putting players like this in motion and having them screen for teammates, it forces the defense to react. Defenders must decide when and how to respond to the action. Is there time to help and recover? Are you able to switch the action? How good is your defensive communication? Answers to these questions get stressed when a 40 percent 3-point shooter is screening and then cutting in the other direction.
21 Action
One of ways Louisville flows into early offense is with quick-hitting “Pistol” action — also known as “21.” In this setup, the point guard will often initiate and get things going by dribbling up the side of the floor and using a ball screen from one of the other guards or wings. From there, the offense can flow into different automatic reads and screening actions, depending on how the defense responds.
Here, Smith sets the 21 screen for Chucky Hepburn (24) in early offense, which creates a switch: Sion James (14), Duke’s top on-ball defender, is pulled off Hepburn and onto Smith (6). Proctor takes Hepburn.
I refer to this as Louisville’s “21 Chase” action. As soon as Proctor switches onto Hepburn, Louisville center James Scott (0) follows with an empty-corner ball screen for Hepburn. Khaman Maluach (9) hedges the empty-side pick, leaving Scott open on the roll. Flagg is maybe a half-step late rotating on the back side, and Hepburn hits Scott with a pocket pass.
I think it’s safe to assume that we’ll see plenty of Brown, a talented pick-and-roll operator, and McKneely paired together in these actions next season. The Cards could end up spamming the hell out of this combination.
Under Bennett and Sanchez, the Hoos ran some of their own 21 sets, too, although it was used as more of a hurry-up offense in late-game scenarios.
Outside of Pistol/21, UVA found other ways to unleash McKneely in guard-guard screening actions.
For example: Virginia runs one of its go-to 5-out actions from last season, which will flow into a guard-guard action. The set starts with an early handoff exchange on the right side between McKneely and Buchanan, which Duke switches — placing the 7-foot-2 Maluach on McKneely. The possession then flows into Cofie initiating in the middle of the floor with a “Zoom” action for Dae Dae Ames (7). As Ames dribbles off the handoff from Cofie, McKneely lifts from the right corner and runs in the direction of Ames. Just before McKneely looks set to screen for Ames, he ghosts out to the wing for a catch-and-shoot 3.
That little ghost/slip maneuver is so impactful as it can force defenders to hesitate. In these brief moments of indecision, the off-ball guard can generate more separation — crucial here for McKneely over the ridiculous reach of Maluach.
Pistol 4
Louisville power forward J’Vonne Hadley is one of the more underrated offensive players in the ACC. He’s a lower-usage option, but he’s super efficient (60.7 percent true shooting) and he can handle the ball. Kelsey likes to invert actions and use the bruising Hadley (6-6, 215) as a pick-and-roll initiator — working with smaller guard screeners.
I refer to these looks as Louisville’s “Pistol 4” series. It works similarly to the 21 series — just with Smith screening for Hadley, instead of the 1. The Cards will clear out a side of the floor and let Smith lift to screen for Hadley (1).
If the defense shows and recovers, Hadley has a chance to attack downhill. If two defenders commit to the ball, the shooter can slip out for an open three. And if the defense switches the action, Louisville can exploit the mismatch by letting Hadley post up against a smaller guard. When NC State switches the screen, it puts guard Marcus Hill (10) on Hadley. Smith feeds the post, and Hadley backs Hill down to finish at the rim.
Here’s a similar setup against Clemson. Hadley initiates pick-and-roll on the left side with Smith. Clemson switches the action as well, leaving 180-pound guard Jake Heidbreder (3) on Hadley, who goes to work and spins off for another layup.
Smith’s role on this play is crucial — not because he touches the ball, but because he helps create an advantage in the half-court. Once again, McKneely could be seamlessly inserted into this role, working with Hadley or Khani Rooths (6-8, 205), another talented forward who returns to the rotation this season and could be in line for more on-ball equity.
Stack Step
Louisville can tap into these inverted big-small screening combinations from several different looks, too.
Late in the game at Pittsburgh, the Cards run what I refer to as their “Stack Pistol 4” action. The possession starts with Scott and Hadley stacked in the middle of the floor — with Smith spaced to the left corner.
Hadley will pop out to the left wing, receive a pass from Hepburn and then launch pick-and-roll with Smith, lifting from the corner to set an inverted step-up screen. Zack Austin (55) is a good perimeter defender, but as Pitt loads up on Smith’s screen, anticipating Hadley to drive left, the Panthers are compromised. Hadley is able to reject the screen and drive middle. This forces Cam Corhen (2) to help up, leaving Scott alone in the dunker spot for a lob.
Spain: Back Pick
Louisville and Kelsey also do an excellent job using their shooters to set back screens as a tool to generate north-south action and paint touches, or as decoy action to open up the middle of the floor and pull help defenders away from the rim.
The Cards run a lot of “Spain” pick-and-roll. This is a three-person action that involves the third player — usually a guard-shooter — as a back screener. Often, the third player sets this back screen on the opposing center defender as a means to help the offensive 5 roll downhill.
At NC State, Louisville flows into Spain pick-and-roll from another Stack look. Scott will run off a little brush screen from Smith on his way up to set a ball screen for Hepburn. As Scott dives, Smith will lift and look to set a back screen. With Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (1) doing a terrible job containing Hepburn while hard hedging the screen, Smith doesn’t really even need to set his back pick. Hepburn splits the defense and gets to the cup for a layup.
Here’s the same Spain set against UNC. This time, Smith sets the back screen on Ven-Allen Lubin (22) and pops out for a 3-point attempt.
Screen-the-screener
When the screening actions hit, things really open up for Louisville’s diverse playbook — in part because it allows the Cards to utilize screen-the-screener action. In these sets, the guard-shooter (McKneely and Smith) will set a screen for one teammate and then dart in another direction — to run off a screen that’s been set for them.
I refer to this as “Stack Thru Slice STS.” Scott and Hadley start in the Stack formation with Terrance Edwards (5) initiating up top. Hadley will pop out to the left wing. Edwards will pass to Hadley and cut through the lane to the right wing. The ball will reverse from left to right and find its way back to Edwards. As soon as that happens, Smith cuts in from the right corner and Louisville has a triangle in the middle third of the floor: Smith, Hadley and Scott. Smith will set a quick slice screen for Hadley, advancing him to the right block — on the same side of the floor as the ball.
Instead of holding his screen, though, Smith slips the Slice action for Smith and runs off a down screen from Scott. NC State freshman guard Trey Parker (5) isn’t sure if he needs to help on Hadley cutting to the block, which creates separation for Smith, who, like McKneely, needs just a little bit of airspace to let it fly.
These are just a few of the ways the Louisville can look to take advantage of McKneely’s off-ball gravity and shooting. The template is already there. Best of luck to those hoping to stop it.