Kentucky basketball’s current fix-it list should start with shots so easy they’re free
You can make the case it’s the easiest shot in basketball. You’re standing 15 feet from the hoop. Unguarded. All by yourself. No one in your face. You can practice the shot over and over again. They’re called “free” throws for a reason.
So why is this Kentucky basketball team making just 66.3 percent of its free throws?
Why do the Cats rank 293rd out of 352 NCAA Division I teams in that category?
Under areas of improvement on UK’s job review, let’s start there. In Saturday’s 63-53 loss to UCLA at Madison Square Garden, John Calipari’s club made just five of its 13 foul shots. Three misses came on the front end of bonus situations. Two of those three came in the final 5:20 when the Cats were trying to claw their way back into the game.
“You can’t go 5-for-13 from the line,” Calipari said afterward. “Not in a game like this.”
You can. And the Cats did. Oscar Tshiebwe missed all four of his foul shots. Jacob Toppin went 1-for-2. Antonio Reeves was 0-for-1. Freshmen Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston were each 2-for-3. The 38.5 percent was the lowest for games in which UK attempted double-digit free throws since a head-scratching 3-of-15 performance against East Tennessee State on Nov. 17, 2017.
Here’s the thing: UK’s 2022-23 edition boasted the ingredients to be fine at the line. Wheeler made 78 percent of his free throws last season. Toppin was at 74.5 percent. Tshiebwe shot a respectable 69.1 percent at the stripe. The two transfers, Antonio Reeves and CJ Fredrick, made free throws at their previous stops. Reeves made 81.8 percent last season at Illinois State. Fredrick made 79.5 percent his freshman year at Iowa before cooling off to 67.6 in 2020-21.
Alas, past performance is not always an indicator of present production. Sahvir Wheeler is an abysmal 59.1 percent from the line. Toppin is at 63.6 percent. Wallace was touted as an excellent free throw shooter. Through 10 games, he is at 58.8 percent. “I’m not used to this,” he said recently.
Kentucky fans are used to this. Or so they believe. The feeling is Calipari doesn’t stress free throw shooting enough, therefore his teams struggle at the line. Those seeds date back to Calipari’s 2008 Memphis team that missed key free throws late in the NCAA Tournament finals and ended up losing to Kansas in overtime. That season, Memphis shot 59.6 percent from the line.
At Kentucky, Calipari’s worst free throw shooting team shot 64.2 in 2012-13. His best led the SEC in free throw shooting at 79.7 percent. UK also led the conference in that category in 2011-12 at 72.3 percent. Of Calipari’s previous 13 Kentucky teams, eight shot at least 70 percent from the line.
It’s not as if Cal shuns good free throw shooters. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander currently leads the NBA at 93.3 percent. Malik Monk is ninth at 90.8 percent. Tyler Herro is 10th at 90.4 percent. All are former Cats.
And it’s not as if Calipari’s incessant yelling — excuse me, coaching — from the sideline is the problem. He’s screamed his way right into the Hall of Fame. He hasn’t changed.
We do know one thing about Calipari when it comes to free throw shooting. He believes in mind over matter. Back in 2008, he explained away Memphis foul line foibles by saying, “Part of the reason my teams haven’t shot free throws well is the style we play. We expend so much energy on defense, being so aggressive and running so fast, that it’s hard to go to the foul line, shut it down, stop, and make free throws.”
This year he keeps saying, “We are a good free throw shooting team.”
That may be true in practice, but practice is practice. Games count. And SEC play begins next week. You better believe there will be plenty of close conference games, ones often decided at the foul line. On UK’s fix-it list, start there.
