Written by MICHAEL KOH
UNC is still riding high after its win against Louisville, but one glaring flaw could be its downfall.
The Memphis Tigers were infamously a few plays away from a national championship against Kansas in 2008. John Calipari’s star-studded team, featuring future No. 1 pick Derrick Rose, led by nine points with two minutes remaining. But because of some clutch Jayhawk buckets and missed Tiger free throws, Kansas rallied to force overtime and eventually won the title.
Memphis ended that season ranked 329th out of 341 Division 1 teams that season in free throw shooting at 61.4 percent. It’s quite simple, really: if Rose or any of his other teammates had made a few more foul shots, the Tigers would’ve raised a banner — then seen it taken down for NCAA violations.
It was hard not to think about that fateful night in San Antonio as the Tar Heels nearly frittered away a 16-point lead against Louisville by coming up empty more often than not at the foul line. UNC was just 9-19 Monday, which extends its poor run at the stripe to 24-47 across its last two games. That’s just a shade over 50 percent, well worse than the woeful Tigers of yore.
Maybe this is just an example of the mathematical pendulum swinging back in a negative direction. The Tar Heels have been mediocre at the line all year, but were shooting 77 percent across their last six games prior to visiting Syracuse last Saturday. For the season, Carolina is shooting 68 percent on free throws, good for 14th in the ACC and 319th nationally.
Hubert Davis, himself a career 84 percent free-throw shooter in the NBA, knows this position is untenable. Postseason basketball is simply too random to leave precious points at the line. After the Tar Heels survived Louisville by the skin of their teeth, Davis was asked what he can do to help his team improve its foul shooting. The famously devout Davis said one word: “Pray.”
After that got a laugh from the assembled media, Davis clarified that free throw shooting is difficult to teach. If he sees something mechanically wrong with the shooting form, Davis will say something. But most of the time he prefers a hands-off approach; Davis says he doesn’t want a player thinking too much at the line.
There was always going to be a drop off after the departure of R.J. Davis, whose career free throw percentage of 86.1 is a program record. But Carolina couldn’t have counted on Seth Trimble dropping 14 percentage points from 82 percent last season to 68 percent this season. Or that Henri Veesaar would drop from 68 percent at Arizona to 61 percent at UNC. Free throws are more mental than anything, and the Tar Heels need to get their minds right before it ends their season earlier than expected.
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Featured image via Todd Melet
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