Liam McNeeley's detailed scouting report: Monteverde's hidden gem is shining for the Huskies

Last year’s Montverde team dominated high school basketball. Their players are thriving at the college level — Cooper Flagg, Derik Queen, Asa Newell and Rob Wright are all having excellent seasons. We shouldn’t forget about UConn freshman wing Liam McNeeley, though, who is finding his rhythm in conference play.

After returning from injury and scoring 18 against St. John’s, McNeeley exploded for 38 points in an enormous win over 24th-ranked Creighton. Alongside his 38 points (12-22), McNeeley tallied 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 1 steal. It’s by far his highest-scoring game of the season, eclipsing a 26-point performance against Gonzaga in mid-December.

According to Cerebro Sports, McNeeley’s game against Creighton marked the highest-scoring performance of his basketball career. McNeeley logged 126 total games in Cerebro’s database, scoring 30 or more in four of them. His previous career-high performance came back in April 2022, where McNeeley dropped 34 in a 16u EYBL game for Drive Nation against Nightrydas.

Liam McNeeley is a sniper for the UCONN Huskies

As he often does, McNeeley added points to the board with his elite off-ball shooting. McNeeley drilled 5-10 threes against Creighton, marking the most threes he’s made and attempted in college. Shooting and size form the foundation of his prospect case — McNeeley converted 37.6% of his 10.5 3-pointers per 100 possessions while making 85% of his free throws.

McNeeley sprinted off screens to leave Creighton defenders in the dust. The defender reacts a beat late and can’t recover to McNeeley moving to the top of the key and shooting immediately despite setting up near the logo:

His constant motion stresses defenses even when McNeeley doesn’t have the basketball. Again on this next play, his defender loses sight of McNeeley and gives up a wide-open shot:

McNeeley primarily attempts threes off of the catch; 77.9% of his jumpers this season have come from catch-and-shoot chances. He’s elite on these shots, draining 42.5% of his catch-and-shoot threes this season. Defenses can’t forget about McNeeley, as he’ll pull immediately without hesitating:

That shooting off of the catch makes him especially dangerous in transition. Scrambling defenses must quickly locate McNeeley or else they risk a quick trigger three in early offense:

McNeeley’s shooting excellence is nothing new or surprising. He scored the majority of his points against Creighton in the paint, though. McNeeley made 7-12 of his 2-point attempts including 9-10 free-throw attempts.

Liam McNeeley's arsenal is beyond just shooting

Beyond his shooting, McNeeley’s foul drawing is his next best offensive skill. His 47.1% free-throw rate on the season is incredibly impressive for a shooting specialist wing, adding real driving versatility to his toolkit. He’ll muscle through defenders to generate free throws as he does in this next clip, taking advantage of his shooting gravity to drive off of the triple screen action:

McNeeley isn’t the most explosive driver and struggles to create advantages against set defenses. He compensates for this limitation with his free throw creation, especially against smaller defenders. A guard switches onto McNeeley here, who drives and drops in the and-1:

He finds a shorter defender on him again here and punishes the mismatch with another powerful drive. McNeeley’s shot gets blocked here, but he draws a foul anyway:

At the NBA level, McNeeley will likely face challenges as a finisher. He’s already a pedestrian scorer at the basket, making a poor 46.2% of his shots at the hoop in the half-court. Finishing will be a major swing skill for McNeeley, who relies on free throws and tough shotmaking to score at the rim against college defenses:

Even when he can’t finish over defenders, his relentlessness leads to offensive rebounds and fouls like this next play. McNeeley tends to put himself in situations to create second chances for his offense and draw fouls:

McNeeley has a knack for these plays, always seeming to land in the right spot to retry possessions. The towering Ryan Kalkbrenner thwarts McNeeley’s initial scoring attempt but he finds the ball again, lowers his shoulder and drives through a smaller defender to score the and-1 in the post:

He hasn’t scored much in the post this season, but McNeeley took Creighton defenders down low a few times in this game. McNeeley drives on this next play, enters the post, pivots and scores an extremely tough chance with his left hand:

McNeeley’s willingness to score with both hands around the rim boosts his finishing upside. We’ve seen him shoot multiple times with the left already, just as he does here, taking advantage of empty space and finishing strong over Kalkbrenner with his weak hand:

Without great burst or explosion, McNeeley compensates to score and finish in other ways. We’ve seen the ambidexterity and foul drawing and McNeeley picks his angles and leverage smartly to work his way downhill. He plays off of two feet here to finish this play strong:

Why Liam McNeeley's transition to the NBA might be easier than others

McNeeley’s experience in a pro-style offense under Dan Hurley will ease his translation to the NBA. He’s comfortable operating dribble handoffs and picking spots as an off-ball attacker, dropping in a floater here:

Scoring makes up McNeeley’s primary offensive component, though he’s a solid decision-maker with the ball (1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio). McNeeley didn’t need to pass much against Creighton, only logging one assist. We again see McNeeley sprinting off of the ball to initiate this drive and dropoff to his big:

Despite lacking an advanced passing toolkit, McNeeley can make basic decisions out of the pick and roll. He finds his teammate slipping out to the top of the key here, punishing Creighton’s miscommunication:

Problems, defense and other concerns about Liam McNeeley

His passes aren’t always crisp, though, as McNeeley’s accuracy and timing can suffer against moving defenses. McNeeley has an open roller for a lob here, but can’t fit the pass past Creighton’s defenders:

Though McNeeley’s offense was the focus of this game, he had some solid defensive moments. His strength helps McNeeley wall up at the point of attack, stopping this drive and forcing a miss:

McNeeley isn’t much of a playmaker on defense, posting well below-average steal (1.0%) and block (1.1%) rates. Without great explosive twitch, quickness or length, he struggles to create turnovers and guard more explosive players on the ball at times:

Teams will draft McNeeley for his offense, though. His size and smarts provide a reasonable floor on the defensive end, but McNeeley’s size and shooting will help him stick in the NBA. Tall shooters like McNeeley, especially ones with his foul-drawing skill, are often high picks and Mcneeley could be no different even in a strong 2025 draft.