The 3-pointer has transformed basketball, beginning at the college level with the 1986-87 season. Shooting beyond the arc has certainly been a game-changer in 2023-24 for South Atlantic Conference teams Carson-Newman and Lincoln Memorial, who square off on Jan. 3 for a matchup of two of the game's most outstanding offenses from beyond the arc. 

Both the Railsplitters and Eagles come into their SAC matchup in the top 40 nationally for made 3-pointers this season: LMU with 113, Carson-Newman with 122. Lincoln Memorial also ranks among the most active in attempts with 309, an average of 25.8 per game. 

LMU's distribution of attempts is spread most prominently between Me'Kell Burries at 84; Matthew Sells with 74; and Chase Rankin with 50. All three are attempting more from long distance than in last season's 30-win campaign when Sells made 82; Burries hit 72; and Rankin connected on 45. 

In addition to shooting more per contest, up from 5.4 attempts beyond the arc in 2022-23 to seven a night this season, Burries is making them at a three-percent higher clip in 2023-24. His current 42.9 percent ranks just outside the top 50 of all Div. II shooters, while Burries' 36 made shots from behind the arc overall are 19th-most in the division. 

Burries hit nine 3-pointers on a 37-point night in Lincoln Memorial's 95-90 win over Alabama-Huntsville on Nov. 17. 

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In terms of both season-long and single-game shooting marks, few come close to matching Burries' production in 2023-24. Carson-Newman's Nick Brenegan, however, is one of the exceptions. 

Brenegan matched the single-game high across all divisions of NCAA basketball for the season on Dec. 19, knocking down 12 in the Eagles' 107-83 win over Tennessee Wesleyan. 

The onslaught tied the C-N program record and second-most in a game in SAC history. 

"It's just one of those days you're kind of in the zone," Brenegan said in his postgame interview. "I have an irrational sense of confidence right now and hopefully I can keep that shooting the basketball." 

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Turns out that his confidence may not be so irrational. He followed up knocking down another three 3-pointers on four attempts in C-N's final game of 2023, a 98-87 win over Belmont Abbey. 

The Eagles are winners in four straight head into Lincoln Memorial, having scored at least 83 in each contest and 94-plus over the last three. Included in that stretch is a 94-81 SAC win at Anderson on Dec. 16, just two weeks before Anderson stunned 2023 NCAA Tournament Cinderella Furman on the road. 

Brenegan hit five 3-pointers at Anderson and six in a Dec. 13 win at Tusculum, giving him 27 of his 50 made triples during this four-game stretch. And, with 50 made on 100 attempts, Brenegan leads Div. II. 

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The only shooters in NCAA who have made more than Brenegan — Hofstra's Tyler Thomas with 53 and Stetson's Jalen Blackmon with 57, and Zevi Samet of Div. III Yeshiva — have done so with at least 23 more attempts and in more games played. 

Of 19 players across all three NCAA divisions with a qualifying number of attempts currently making at least 50 percent, Brenegan has attempted 25 more than the most prolific shooter (Dayton's Koby Brea, connecting on 50.7 percent of 75 attempts). 

With John Zhao hitting 58.7 percent on 46 attempts to date, Carson-Newman's 93.9-point per game offense (sixth in the nation) owes a considerable portion of its productivity to the 11.1 long balls made per game, fourth-most in Div. II. 

Lincoln Memorial's 9.4 made from deep per game translates to a remarkably similar distribution of overall scoring coming from the Railsplitters' 3-point offense (34.9) as Carson-Newman gets from its outside shooting (35.5). 

Add it all up, and the end sum is that few games at any level of basketball this season will be as dependent on the 3-pointer as this SAC showdown.