Free throw.
The name suggests that it is, well, free. But for the CSU men's basketball team the free throw line has been more of a horror show than the easy points it is designed to be.
The Rams are shooting 67 percent from the charity stripe on the season, the lowest percentage in the Mountain West Conference.
Free throws are a key to victory in basketball as they represent the easiest way to score points. High free throw percentages usually correlate with winning teams, as evidenced by Brigham Young University.
The Cougars shoot a MWC-high 75 percent from the line, and they are tied for first in the conference with a 24-2 record.
The Rams struggles have carried throughout the season and have become arguably the weakest link in a team that has serious hopes for making the NCAA tournament. CSU is currently 18-7 and sits third in the MWC standings.
“It’s a mental thing,” coach Tim Miles said. “You can make too big a deal out of it sometimes.”
But it is a big deal when free throws cost a team a win. That happened on Feb. 2 when the Rams lost by two points to No. 6 San Diego State, a win that would have ranked as one of the biggest in program history.
In that two-point loss CSU missed eight free throws while the Aztecs missed only two. A six point difference that proved the determining spread in the game.
One of the reasons that the team struggles so much from the line is that the two players who take the most free throws, seniors Andy Ogide and Travis Franklin, are two of the teams worst free throw shooters.
Ogide shoots 57 percent from the line, while Franklin shoots 68 percent from the line.
“We need to be better,” Ogide said. “You just have to get into the gym and shoot and when you get to the line you just have to get the job done.”
One thing is certain; the poor free throw shooting isn’t due to a lack of practice time.
Early in the season the team took a large number of free throws. After every practice players were required to shoot a high-number, usually well over 20, of free throws before they were allowed to leave.
That plan has now been shifted.
“We had been shooting volume free throws,” Miles said. “I decided to go away from that and do some pressure free throws.”
The pressure free throws came in a drill when separate players had to hit free throws until five players had hit a shot.
If someone missed before the streak reached five, everyone on the team had to run suicide sprints.
Wednesday night’s win may provide a glimmer of hope for the Rams free throw shooting. CSU shot only 69 percent from the line, but Ogide hit 10 out of 11 attempts to help lead the Rams to victory.
The team insists it will do whatever it takes to correct the problem.
“We just need to stick with it,” Miles said.
I found this story very interesting because this is something i constantly wonder about because i don't understand how they miss those free throws so often when they are such good players. I always assumed it to be some sort of mental thing where they are just psyching themselves out, which seems to be the case. I like your intro thought it caught my attention.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting story. The lead is catchy and does the job of passing the message across to the readers. I find it fascinating that the two players who take the most free throws are two of the team's worst free throw shooters. Great story overall; however, it would have been nice if the reader knew which of the CSU basktball team you were writing about, that is, men or women.
ReplyDeleteWell written story! I've been to two of the home games, adn even though I'm no basketball expert I was surprised at how easily they give away points in free throws. Very relevant topic.
ReplyDeleteSeriously a great story! Your title was spot on and it definitely made me chuckle cause this story is easy to relate to being an avid attendee of csu basketball games. The research you did about the practices really added to the story and helped add a good perspective and background.
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