Focus on the basket, bend the knees and follow through. Sounds easy, right?
“Nobody’s guarding you, it’s the same distance every time and it’s the same height every time,” said West Liberty-Salem head coach Aaron Hollar. “Kids have to sell themselves that it is an easy shot and step up to the line and treat it like that.”
Except it’s not easy. Hollar’s Tigers have made 44.9 percent (22-of-49) freebies this season. But they’re hardly alone in misses.
Catholic Central is shooting 58 percent (40-for-69), about 7 percent below last year’s average. Graham is shooting 53.2 percent (25-for-47), 11 percent below last year. Triad is shooting 51.2 percent (44-for-86), 10 percent lower than last year.
All three of those teams were in the 40-percent range before Tuesday’s games.
Emmanuel Christian is making 49.3 percent (34-for-69) and Greenon 52.1 percent (25-for-48).
It can’t be all bad, though. Urbana is shooting 57.7 percent (41-for-71) and is 3-0. Graham, too, is undefeated. So is Greeneview, shooting 48.3 percent (28-for-58).
But what happened to the shooters?
“It’s because kids don’t spend time doing that stuff in the summer,” Graham head coach Brook Cupps said. “They play AAU games and time spent on developing individual skills is missed out on. ... You don’t become a good free-throw shooter during the season. You’re a good free- throw shooter because you’ve shot a ton of free throws and worked on it and practiced it.”
It’s not like teams don’t practice it. Hollar said the Tigers shoot free throws at the beginning and end of every practice.
“We shoot them in practice and we shoot a high percentage,” Hollar said. “For whatever reason, this season it hasn’t gone in during the games.”
“To me,” Cupps said, “free throws are just mental toughness. Go up there and focus on what you need to get done, and make the free throw.”
The area’s best free-throw team, so far, is Mechanicsburg (64.3 percent). Shawnee (61.9 percent) and Northwestern (61.4 percent) are also shooting well.
About the Author