No. 12 Wichita State’s 27-game win streak in the Missouri Valley Conference ended in a terrible 70-54 loss to No. 18 Northern Iowa Saturday.

The hype surrounding the first matchup since 1982 between ranked Missouri Valley teams ended in disappointment for WSU fans. Northern Iowa will improve its ranking, and the Shockers will likely fall significantly, but if there’s one thing the Shockers can take away from this — as they should have their first two losses — is the team is shooting too many threes.

Through 22 games, the Shockers attempted 430 three-pointers. That’s 50 more than they’ve shot from two, which puts them on pace to eclipse the 713 three-pointers attempted last season. In the previous season, where the Shockers became the first collegiate team to win 35 straight games, they attempted 1,229 two pointers. This year? 380. But there’s a difference between attempting three-pointers and making them.

The Shockers opened the season making light work of New Mexico State in a 70-54 win. The Shockers went 0-11 from three. The next three games, the Shockers went on to win despite shooting a combined 26-65 from three. Then there’s Utah.

Then-No. 25 Utah vs. then-No. 8 Wichita State — this was considered to be the Shockers’ first and (probably) only test during the season. Let’s be honest, compared to major conferences, the MVC isn’t that tough, although competitive between mid-tiers in the conference. The Shockers shot 11-30 from three in a 69-68 overtime thriller. So it was only a one point loss, right? Let’s be optimistic and call it a bad-shooting night.

Wrong. In the Shockers’ second loss to George Washington, the team shot 11-27 from three. And on Saturday, the team shot 5-24 from three.

Granted, seven of the 24 three-point attempts against UNI came in the last seven minutes, and seven of the 30 attempts against Utah were taken in the final five minutes leading in overtime where the team shot two of three from three. However, against teams the Shockers have blown out, such as Loyola and Drake, they shot more than 20 three-pointers. Against good teams, shots are limited, so the Shockers need to maximize their scoring opportunities.

Because of the lack of a true scorer, and with Darius Carter banged up, the Shockers are in need of a threat in the post to keep defenses honest — or they’ll continue to live and die by the three.

Fred VanVleet, the AP’s Preseason All-American, is having his worst season of his career, statistically. VanVleet is shooting more three pointers this season, and through 22 games, has already attempted 69. Last season, through 36 games, VanVleet only attempted 91. Unless you’re Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, I don’t think it would be advantageous for any team to have its point guard attempting more three pointers — especially if they’re not falling on a consistent basis.

It’s not VanVleet’s fault, though. This year, he has more responsibilities and less help, with the exception of Ron Baker and Tekele Cotton. Take the game against Loyola, the game before Northern Iowa.

 Of the 22 shots made by the Shockers, 19 of them came from  VanVleet (10), Baker (6) and Cotton (3). Earlier in the game, the Shockers struggled finishing at the rim, which led to VanVleet taking over. VanVleet finished the game with a career-high 27 points and said this:

“I feel like I can be aggressive like that every night if chose to do so. Whether it works out or not is up to the night,” he said, when asked about carrying the load … The rhythm of the game just wasn’t flowing for us, so I took the [responsibility] to be more aggressive, and I found opportunities.”

That all sounds good, but like VanVleet said: “It’s up to the night.” And on nights when shots aren’t falling for him or Baker — like against Utah, George Washington and Northern Iowa — the Shockers are in trouble. Everyone else plays defense — great defense — and that vanishes on the other end. If the Shockers want to make another run come March Madness, they will need to develop a presence down low and take less three-pointers. Because through the course of this season, they’ve lived and died by the three only to play more games.

 Come tournament time, there won’t be any more games.