Back in December we took a look at an alarming trend: UConn’s inability to get to the free throw line.
“Overall, there’s reason to be nervous about the Huskies’ ability to get to the line but it’s too early to panic.”
Wise words, frankly. At the time, only seven games had been played featuring a bizarre hodgepodge of barely-basketball teams (Maine, Sacred Heart) and a trio of legitimate games in the Bahamas. It’s now two months and 18 games later and you should now feel free to panic.
The Huskies are one of the best free throw shooting teams in the country. They rank fourth in nation at 77.3 percent. When you have such a supreme advantage, you need to exploit it. UConn should be getting to the line as much as possible. Think back to the 2014 NCAA Tournament when the Huskies shot 87.8 percent from the foul line en route to the National Championship.
This season, the Huskies are not exploiting that advantage. In fact, they are one of the worst teams in the country at getting to the line. UConn is ranked 319th out of 351 Division I schools in Free Throw Rate. Their current rate of .306 would stand as the worst mark of the program’s championship era.
Why is UConn so bad at getting to the line? We covered a few of the possible reasons in that December article. The main one that carries over is that Daniel Hamilton and Rodney Purvis, the players most highly involved in offensive possessions, are both very bad at drawing fouls. In conference play, Purvis’s FTr is .228 and Hamilton is at .213 — the only rotation player that Hamilton outranks is Jalen Adams.
Shonn Miller and Sterling Gibbs have rebounded as the season has progressed to get closer to their career averages. Gibbs especially has seen a dramatic rate increase as the season has progressed; the caveat being that many of those attempts are the result of end-game intentional fouls. Great in the big picture, since Gibbs is shooting over 86 percent from the stripe this year, but somewhat misleading in that so many of his attempts are not the result of offensive strategy or execution.
Miller’s attempts come against the anecdotal backdrop of a lack of respect from officials. He is getting whistled for a ton of fouls on defense, but seems to struggle to earn similar calls on offense. Miller has emerged as UConn’s leading scorer and most consistent offensive weapon. Some additional free throw attempts per game would go a long way towards advancing the team’s scoring chances.
With only six games remaining in the regular season, it seems unrealistic for UConn to suddenly develop the skill of drawing fouls. After several seasons of questionable free throw numbers, it’s fair to question if off-season adjustments are necessary to facilitate better opportunities in seasons to come. For now, UConn will have to win games relying on their other strength — team defense — as they neglect to utilize a dominant weapon in their arsenal.
