All of those Steve Nash drills must be working. The famous free throw drill, named for the diminutive Canadian point guard, is credited with transforming the 2014 UConn team into an unshakable, unmissable force from the foul line during their national title run.
That team shot 77.7 percent from the line, the best of mark during the Jim Calhoun/Kevin Ollie era.
Until now.
The 2015-16 Huskies made 488 of their 615 free throw attempts this year, a staggering 79.4 percent. Not only does this represent the new high-water mark in modern UConn history, but it was the highest percentage posted by any team in the country this season.
Seven of UConn’s ten rotation players shot over 80 percent from the line this year. Jalen Adams led the way at 86.3 percent, followed closely by Daniel Hamilton (86%) and Sterling Gibbs (85.5%). Not to be outdone, the Huskies’ front court also buried their free attempts with Shonn Miller at 80.2 percent and Amida Brimah at 82.4 percent. The consistency displayed from the top of the rotation to the bottom was staggering, and helped elevate the Huskies to an AAC Tournament championship and a first round NCAA victory over Colorado.
For a little icing on the cake, the team shot an absolutely insane 81.6 percent in conference play.
Now for the bad news. Despite being the best team in the nation at knocking down their free throws. UConn ranked 332 out of 351 Division 1 programs in Free Throw Rate (shout to Boston College for bringing up the rear). If this sounds familiar, it should. We first noticed this problem in December, the day before the Huskies played Maryland. At that point, their FTr was .312, 296th in the country. We checked back this February to find UConn’s FTr had dropped to .306, descending to 319th nationally. Their final resting mark was .296, the lowest of the Calhoun/Ollie era.
The reasons are somewhat obvious if you watched this team. They relied heavily on three-point attempts. Past UConn teams depended on their hard-driving point guards to ratchet up the free throw numbers. This year, Sterling Gibbs launched 204 three-point attempts and only 118 shots from inside the arc. Rodney Purvis (182) and Daniel Hamilton (142) also took a ton of threes.
Gibbs did lead the team in FTr at .407 but the rest of the team’s ball-handlers were less successful at drawing fouls. Purvis (.263), Hamilton (.243) and Jalen Adams (.208) all struggled. Miller (.410 in his Cornell career) declined to .392 and Brimah registered only 34 attempts in 25 games.
Given their cold-bloodedness at the stripe, the Huskies would have been wise to attempt to draw more fouls. It might not have vaulted them any higher than their second round exit this season, but it certainly would have helped them maximize their talent. In the modern world of college basketball, points are hard to come by, and the Huskies left a lot of available points on the floor.
