Free throw shooting must improve for West Virginia basketball

No. 12 West Virginia gets to foul line more than any team in the Big 12 Conference.

The Mountaineers rank in the upper crust of college basketball with a total of 442 trips to the line and fifth overall at 24.6 per game. That’s the good news.

But the Mountaineers continue to struggle at the stripe ranking only 325 of out 350 teams by hitting only 64-percent of those shots. They’re called free throws for a reason, but it’s been anything but.

“We continue to miss free throws. We miss two at a time, which blows my mind as many as we shoot,” head coach Bob Huggins said.

The misses have already cost the Mountaineers as in two of the three combined loses on the season came by a total of nine points. In those two games, West Virginia was 17-34 from the line or 50-percent.

Considering the remaining schedule, this is an issue that must be ironed out as the Mountaineers navigate into the meat of Big 12 Conference play over the next couple months and eventually the NCAA Tournament. So, Morgantown, we have a problem.

It’s easy to point the finger at one or two players, but this is more than a one or two player issue. Of the players that have attempted at least 20 free throws only sophomore Jordan McCabe (17-20), freshman Miles McBride (45-60) and sophomore Sean McNeil (15-20) shoot over 70-percent.

Then you have sophomore Derek Culver (63-105), freshman Oscar Tshiebwe (54-83), senior Jermaine Haley (28-48), sophomore Emmitt Matthews (16-28) all under that mark.

How do you explain it and more importantly how does it get corrected?

The Mountaineers are tasked with not just taking, but making 100 free throws at the end of every practice, a strategy that Huggins has long leaned on in that department. Perhaps that number should be increased, but regardless the act of free throw shooting is so routine based it’s already ingrained.

Some it has to be mental or an adjustment to that routine, as Culver started the year 32-39 or 82-percent before dipping down to his current numbers.

“I have to go back to the drawing board and figure things out,” he said. “I feel like I’ll be alright.”

At there is likely some truth in that, but for now the goal of this team is to be able to close games confidently on the line especially with how much they are getting there.

Perhaps even more troubling than the free throw numbers has been the recent wave of turnovers with 73 over the past four games. Both issues need cleaned up.

Defense, hitting open shots and making your free throws are the recipe to have success in March and that third component has to change for a team that has been getting there a lot.

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