Florida Gators

OXFORD, Miss. – Taurean Green remembers back in his point guard days hearing coaches and players on the opposing benches screaming at their guys on the floor, as the Florida Gators were trying to close out late-game situations.
 
DON'T FOUL 12!
DON'T FOUL 12! 
 
Green (and then-Coach Billy Donovan) were thinking the same thing, but for a different reason. 
 
"We were like, 'Yes! Please!" Green said, recounting those times. "Definitely, do not foul 12!"
 
No. 12 for the Gators at the time was sharp-shooting guard Lee Humphrey, one of the greatest and clutchest 3-point snipers in college basketball history. At 60 percent, he also was the worst free-throw shooter among that incomparable 2006 NCAA championship starting five. Perception vs. reality. 
 
To be fair, Humphrey didn't visit the line too often – just 70 times during his career and a mere 13 attempts during UF's second of those back-to-backs – but he also recalls feeling differently eyeing free throws vs. 3-balls. For Humphrey, pulling up on a catch-and-shoot from the arc was second nature and instantaneous. But free throws? He found himself thinking too much. 
 
"Step up and make 'em, right?" said Humphrey, now the color analyst on UF radio broadcasts. "For some, it's just not that simple."
 
Ah, the free-throw line. Yes, it's topical this week for the Gators, but for the wrong reasons. UF went 18-for-29 in Saturday's 87-85 home loss to sixth-ranked Kentucky and at 65.1 percent the Gators now rest at the bottom of the Southeastern Conference in free-throw shooting by almost five percentage points. They're 321^st (out of 362 Division I teams) nationally. 
 
In case anyone was wondering, yes, Florida (10-4, 0-1) has put in some extra time shooting free throws the last couple days in preparation for Wednesday night's road league opener at Ole Miss (13-1, 0-1). But let the record show the team spent plenty of time at the mock line over the previous several months on the way to this point in the season. 
 
"It's obviously a shortcoming for us," UF coach Todd Golden said after the UK defeat. 
 
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup story here]
 
And probably will be over the balance of the season. 
 
That's not to say the Gators won't strive (or even succeed) to improve. Take the Florida bigs, for example. Center Micah Handlogten (25.0 percent) and forwards Tyrese Samuel (51.4), Alex Condon (64.7) and Tommy Haugh (42.1) – a combined 82 of 156 on the season (52.6 percent) – have been in the gym before and after practice and been put through an array of free-throw shooting drills of late. It's impossible to replicate game-like free-throw pressure in practice, so coaches have to get creative. UF's staffers have different methods. 
 
Green, who doubles as director of player development, gets a baseline by either having them shoot 50 to see how many they make (and work from there) or shoot until they make 50 (and work from that). 
 
Assistant coach John Andrzejek calls his routine "Free Throw Rehab." Players have to make 25, but along the way (try to follow along) must hit five in a row, nine of 10, two swishes and not miss two straight. Have fun, fellas. It usually takes 30-45 minutes, sometimes with balls fired against the wall in frustration.
 
Carlin Hartman, associate head coach, has each of his bigs shoot 50, with 38 makes required (or 76 percent). On Tuesday, Handlogten was 37-for-49 and missed his last. 
 
"He started over," Hartman said.  Picture this: During practice Monday, Golden spread out his army of managers and support staff, scattering some behind the basket stanchion and a few more in the above mezzanine, cranked up the fake crowd noise and had teammates screaming from the sideles as Samuel, Handlogten, Condon and guard Riley Kugel (65.8 percent) stepped to the line. Make two or everybody runs a "22" (two down-and-back court sprints in less than 22 seconds). Nobody likes 22s. 

There was lots of running.
 
"Each guy just needs to shoot 'em over and over and over in here and continue to see the ball go in," Hartman said. "That way, when they get to the line in the game, they know, organically, 'I've done this so many times.' "
 
Samuel, the 6-foot-10 grad-transfer, was a 37.2-percent free-throw shooter as a role-playing freshman and sophomore at Seton Hall. As a junior and senior for the Pirates he improved to 65.4, but is 13 points below that number this season. 
 
On Tuesday, Green assigned Samuel the 50-make routine. How many did it take? Try 52, including 25 in a row. He did it before and again after practice.
 
"I'm working on 'em, don't worry," Samuel said. 
 
They all are. 
 
"It's a massive thing at every practice," said Handlogten, who made 54.3 percent as a freshman at Marshall last season, but is just 3-for-12 as a Gator, including a current streak of six consecutive misses over the last two games (despite being 4-for-5 from the 3-point line on the season). "I get in my own head a lot, so I'm thinking about just trying to slow myself down and shoot the ball." 

CHARTING THE GATORS
Southeastern Conference team free-throw percentage rankings 

Pct.	Team	Individual leader
77.7	Tennessee	Dalton Knecht (80.4)
77.2	Alabama	Grant Nelson (87.7)
76.9	Missouri	Sean East II (78.7)
74.6	Kentucky	Antonio Reeves (85.4)
74.5	Auburn	Chad Baker-Mazara (87.2)
73.6	South Carolina	Meechie Johnson (82.7)
72.9	Ole Miss	Jaemyn Brakefield (82.6)
72.5	Mississippi State	Josh Hubbard (86.4)
72.3	Vanderbilt	*Ezra Manjon (88.6)
71.4	Arkansas	Khaliff Battle (82.2)
71.4	LSU	Jordan Wright (79.2)
71.0	Texas A&M	Wade Taylor IV (83.3)
69.7	Georgia	Jabri Abdur-Rahim (88.2)
65.1	Florida	Zyon Pullin (81.5)

* Denotes SEC individual leader
 
Last year, junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. led the nation in free-throw shooting while at Iona by going 102 of 107 for a remarkable 95.3 percent. Junior wing Will Richard, shot 80.4 percent as a freshman two years ago at Belmont and after transferring to UF led the Gators at 85.7 percent as a sophomore last season. He's at 74.4 this season. Go figure.
 
The Florida coaches, as everybody knows, are big into analytics and numbers crunching. Maybe some of these percentages will start balancing out. Until that proves to be the case,however,  the Gators are what their free-throw numbers say they are.
 
So there's work to do. 
 
In UF's first three losses this season, the free-throw line wasn't so costly. The Gators, in fact, collectively out-shot Virginia, Baylor and Wake Forest 77.0 to 70.5 at the line. 
 
Kentucky shot 71.4 to Florida's 62.1. That 10 percent proved pivotal in what was a two-point loss in the SEC opener and biggest game of the season. 
 
"Free throws are so important because they are something the other team can't control," Hartman said. "You have to call it like it is and tell them what it is. There are going to be games we win or lose based on how you guys do at the line. Make 'em."