Nothing Free About 'Em: Woes at Line Costing Gators Plenty
Saturday, February 28, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- At the end of practice Friday, players paired up at the gym's six basketball goals and began shooting free throws. Lots of free throws.
At staggered points, Florida coach Billy Donovan called out a player to make two in a row. If that player missed either one, the entire team did push-ups before returning to shooting. The Gators went until everyone knocked down a pair.
It took a few minutes.
The routine was the latest exercise in the never-ending quest to make the Gators better at the free-throw line. Some UF players are taking hundreds a day. Sometimes Donovan stops the team mid-practice and puts a player in a “make two” pressure situation or else the entire team runs. And while it's impossible to simulate end-of-game pressure -- heck, middle-of-game pressure -- Donovan and his staff have to try something (anything) to slow the hemoraging.
Such is life for the 314th-best free-throw shooting team in the nation.
“Sometimes, people go up there and they rush and they think about it too much. It's just a free throw,” said freshman guard Chris Chiozza, trying to rationalize UF's confounding ineffieciency at the stripe. “We've taken hundreds of thousands of them since we've been playing basketball, so I don't know. It's just different when you think about missing. You've just got to go up there and know you're going to make it.”
Tell that to Kasey Hill, who Tuesday night missed his first seven free throws on the way to going 1-for-8 from the line for a UF team that went 9-for-23 (that would be 39 percent) in a 64-52 loss at Missouri. The Tigers came into the game on a 13-game losing streak and alone in last place in the SEC standings.
Currently, the Gators have five players in their base 10-man rotation shooting less than 61 percent from the line in SEC play, with both their point guards near the bottom of the team statistics; Hill at 44.4 percent (20 of 45) and Chiozza at 54.5 percent (6 of 11). The best free-throw shooter on the team is guard Michael Frazier II at a deadly 97.1 percent. Too bad he's been out three weeks with an ankle sprain.
Overall, UF is making an SEC-worst 64.4 percent, which is 12 percent lower than the 76.2 its opponents are making. The Gators are 14 percentage points behind league-leading Ole Miss (78.3) and have made 60 fewer free throws than the next-to-last team in the league (Texas A&M).
Think any of this adds up?
It's not the reason but it's certainly a reason Florida (13-15, 6-9) is fighting for its winning-record life as the 2014-15 season winds down, with Tennessee (14-11, 6-9) due Saturday night at the O'Connell Center. Any shot of finishing over .500 -- and maybe sneaking into a postseason invitational tournament -- basically goes out the door with a loss to the Volunteers.
Poor free-throw shooting has been one of UF's laundry list of woes, but as Donovan said last week, usually a poor shooting team from the floor -- which the Gators have been, especially of late -- probably is a poor-shooting team at the free-throw line.
The return Saturday of junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith from a three-game suspension for violating team rules should help some. Finney-Smith is making 44.6 percent from the floor, 44.9 from the 3-point line and 65.4 percent from line. Without him in the lineup to give the Gators some more scoring options offensively, the team shot 35.9 percent on their field goals, 25.7 on their 3s and 50.9 at the free-throw line the last three games.
“It's been hard watching these games,” said Finney-Smith, who could just as well have been speaking on behalf of UF fans. “I'm supposed to be a leader, but I put some selfish reasons before the team. Now, I hope I can earn my everyone's trust back and hopefully help us win some games.”
Finney-Smith, like the rest of the team, has spent extra time working on all facets of his shooting. As Donovan said Friday, though, showing up at the gym and jacking shots is the easy part.
“I liken it to this: Just because I go to the library and sit down doesn't mean I'm getting any smarter or studying [well enough] for a test,” Donovan said. “There's got to be a commitment where a guy like Kasey Hill says, 'You know what? I've had enough. I am going to start shooting the ball better from the free-throw line.' "
Donovan used walk-on senior Jake Kurtz, forced into more action this season than anyone could have imagined, as an example. Kurtz was a 55-percent shooter for his first three UF seasons, albeit in limited action and with scarce attempts (20 total). Heading into SEC play this season, Kurtz was 6-for-11 from the line and 13-for-23 (or 56.5 percent) three games into the league slate.
About that time, Kurtz said, “You know what? I've had enough.”
To the gym he went. A bunch. But also with a plan and commitment to trly get better. He's 15-for-18 since (83.3 percent).
“I'm sure going 1-for-8 is probably in his head a little bit,” Donovan said of Hill. “Has Kasey been in the gym trying to work on some of those things? Absolutely. But you know what, sometimes that doesn't necessarily equal getting better.”
All the mental preparation games are fine, but ultimately it comes down to the real games (the Gators have one Saturday) and the real free throws (which the Gators no doubt will have).
They will figure in the outcome.
