Free Throw Shooting

[CameronCrazy 1,058]

If we make our free throws tonight then we win by 35+ easy. No, it didn't hurt us in this game, but it will cost us a game in the future. It's so frustrating to watch Auburn teams struggle with this every year! It's especially tough to watch guards (not big men) struggle with making a shot where no one is guarding you and you can take your time. There's just no excuse! You HAVE to do the little, fundamental aspects of this game if you EVER expect to be in the same league as the big boys.

[AUFAN78 3,889]

1 minute ago, CameronCrazy said:

If we make our free throws tonight then we win by 35+ easy. No, it didn't hurt us in this game, but it will cost us a game in the future. It's so frustrating to watch Auburn teams struggle with this every year! It's especially tough to watch guards (not big men) struggle with making a shot where no one is guarding you and you can take your time. There's just no excuse! You HAVE to do the little, fundamental aspects of this game if you EVER expect to be in the same league as the big boys.

I haven't seen the stats. What were our percentages from the line and field?

[CameronCrazy 1,058]

We were 25-42 from the line. That's pathetic. We had a chance to run away with it early and crush their spirit, but we allowed them to hang around. Thankfully, our press wore them down mentally and physically in the 2nd half. They didn't have the depth to keep competing at a high level. We will not be that fortunate against some future opponents. 

[aufan57 922]

[milehighfan 1,239]

I feel your pain. I can't remember a season when Auburn was good from the FT line. You are absolutely right, it didn't cost us tonight but it will in the future just like it's done in the past.

[aufan57 922]

Surprised by the players who shot worse from the line. Harper, Brown & Heron. 

[Weagle98 119]

It was odd last night.  It seemed they would miss the first and then hit the second about every time.  Very frustrating.

[AUDynasty 585]

How about that? Heron 8-8 from the field which includes playing action with defenders on him, and 7-13 from the charity stripe when there's no defenders on him at all. 

17 missed free-throws won't cut it in conference play. 

[tallgraycat 33]

I am not a big fan of the changes in the way fouls are called, but if this is the way ref are going to call fouls, then hitting free throw is more important now than in the past.  A team's ability to shut free throw will win or lose several games this year.   Let me add, it slows the game down and changes the tempo of the game.  Players will have to make adjustments in the way they have played all of their careers.  With several calls, you could tell the players were like what did I do or I didn't touch the guy.  In my opinion, toward the end of the game, when the outcome had been decided, the ref did not make so many questionable calls. 

[gravejd 3,269]

Heron and Harper are going to spend a LOT of time at the free throw line this year. So they need to get comfortable there quick!

[Tiger 8,817]

Yep. In games where our margin of error is very slim we will undoubtedly look at our team FT stats as being a huuuuge hurdle to have to overcome. Leaving 17 points unclaimed last night is ROUGH. I wonder how many of those were front ends of 1 and 1s. Yikes. IDK how you can improve it either, some players just can't shoot FTs.

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

For what ever it is worth, here are the percentages and rankings of team FT% from last seasons Elite 8:

Villanova 78.2% #2

Virginia 75.2% #17

North Carolina 74.7% #26

Notre Dame 74.2% #34

Oklahoma 72.2%  #89

Oregon 71.4% #116

Kansas 71.3% #119

Syracuse 68.8% #213

 

UConn was #1 at 79.3% and Auburn was #337 at 63.2% (out of 346 teams)

 

[CameronCrazy 1,058]

Bump

[FoundationEagle 637]

24 minutes ago, CameronCrazy said:

Bump

 

[Charhair 345]

One thing I noticed on a couple of players FT attempts, most of all Ware, was a lack of proper form. One of his attempts, he literally went through three separate motions with pauses in between them in between the time he moved the ball past his waist until he released it. It made me cringe. He made a perfect shot on the next attenpt.

whether the problem was not knowing what he was doing or realizing and fixing it in between shots, it's a free throw. You sit up there unguarded and take a second to yourself to make sure you don't make any mistakes like that. You've gotta take them seriously. If we'd made 3 more against TT throughout the course of the game, we aren't even worried about a last second shot.

[CameronCrazy 1,058]

Mustapha Heron is 1-5 from the FT line today. Lang just bricked two free throws. This completely unacceptable when we're trying to knock off Kentucky at Rupp. So frustrating to watch!

[tombigbeetiger 223]

free throw shooting may end up being the difference today....this could very well be a 2-3 point game right now if we were good from the line

[johnnyAU 3,630]

I don't understand how we could be this bad for this many years in FT shooting.  It's beyond imagination.

[Tiger 8,817]

No matter who the coach is, who the players are, or what decade it is we have been a bad FT shooting team for as long as I can remember. Very odd.

I had heard Harper was a solid to good FT shooter in high school but he has struggled since being at AU. Hopefully he gets closer to his HS FT shooting % soon because our margin of error isn't big enough to be so poor at the FT line

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

Here is a list of the last 9 seasons of free throw shooting for Auburn Basketball (all I could find). I have included the percentage and NCAA rank for that year.

                     %            Rank

2008-2009: 60.7%      338
2009-2010: 65.4 %     281
2010-2011: 65.3 %     284
2011-2012: 64.8%      300
2012-2013: 70%         158 

2013-2014: 72%           97

2014-2015:  66.7%     260
2015-2016:  63.3%     341
2016-2017: 68.9%      195  (Current)

 

AVG:            66.3%.    250

Years at 70%+:      2

Years ranked inside top 100:   1

Years Inside top 68:    0

Years Under AVG pct. :    5

Years Under AVG rank:   6

Years under average points out that there have been many years that have been bad, and a few really good years (relatively) that have boosted up the averages. It's tough shooting FTs for Auburn.

 

 

Ouch

[milehighfan 1,239]

When Auburn gets a team in foul trouble they are so bad at the charity stripe they can't take advantage. Did anyone see LaRon Smith at the free throw line Tuesday night against Missouri? Not only is he pathetic but late in the game Auburn doesn't appear to have anyone they can put in who can consistently hit free throws. It gets so discouraging to watch the other teams nail shots from the free throw line while but when Auburn goes to the FT line it is definitely an adventure.

[Charhair 345]

38 minutes ago, milehighfan said:

When Auburn gets a team in foul trouble they are so bad at the charity stripe they can't take advantage. Did anyone see LaRon Smith at the free throw line Tuesday night against Missouri? Not only is he pathetic but late in the game Auburn doesn't appear to have anyone they can put in who can consistently hit free throws. It gets so discouraging to watch the other teams nail shots from the free throw line while but when Auburn goes to the FT line it is definitely an adventure.

DP and Harper both seem consistent with their FT shooting. Our problem FT % wise is DP, JH, MH (the guys we would expect to hit high %) don't take it to the rim very much. I would imagine we have some of the lowest total FTs taken in the country. And when we do get there, it usually seems to be people like Laron, Spencer and Wiley most of the time (shooting fouls that is). I haven't looked at any stats to confirm that but usually it seems like the teams who get to the line more shoot higher percentages because their guards and forwards are drawing shooting fouls too.

hoping with the more size being added in this next class (Davion and okeke for example) we start banging around inside more and more. Just my $0.02 on it

[aufan57 922]

12 minutes ago, Charhair said:

I would imagine we have some of the lowest total FTs taken in the country.

Surprisingly, Auburn is tied for 34th in FT attempts with 449. Only SEC team with more ft attempts is Kentucky at 455.

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/638

[Charhair 345]

1 hour ago, aufan57 said:

Surprisingly, Auburn is tied for 34th in FT attempts with 449. Only SEC team with more ft attempts is Kentucky at 455.

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/638

Interesting. Sure seems like we're shooting a lot less compared to other games I watch. Too much of the pros I guess

[AU64 10,122]

10 hours ago, aufan57 said:

Surprisingly, Auburn is tied for 34th in FT attempts with 449. Only SEC team with more ft attempts is Kentucky at 455.

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/638

Attempts is the key word....think most teams prefer to foul one of our big guys rather than allow an easy basket.