Free throws are critical to Maryland men’s bb win

This is a blog about all things related to free throw shooting in basketball. One of the critical points of today’s post is to show how fundamentally sound basketball includes good free throw shooting which can lead to more wins by a team. I know that players roll their eyes at practicing free throw shooting, and even some of the best high school and college coaches find it boring to practice or emphasize free throw shooting drills and competency.

I did not watch the Maryland men’s basketball 82-67 win over Minnesota on January 8, 2019 but I have studied the team statistics and other related commentary. There were apparently several reasons why Maryland won the game including a strategic decision by MD coach Turgeon to switch to a zone defense for the second half, as well as adjustments that led to a strong scoring second half by Maryland’s leading scorer, Anthony Cowan along with a greater comfort level by MD freshmen playing in Big Ten competition as the game progressed.

MN led at halftime. For the game, MD and MN each scored the same number of 2 point field goals (26) and each scored the same number of 3 point field goals (6). And, MN had fewer turnovers, 6 vs.11 plus MN had more assists, 18 vs. 13 and MN had more steals, 6 vs. 3. All of these key metrics would point to a likely MN victory. On the rebounding front, MD had more overall rebounds, 39 v. 28 but MN had more offensive rebounds, 12 v. 7 which also usually leads to more scoring opportunities. Admittedly, MD shot a much higher FG and three point percentage than MN but MD completely dominated at the free throw line.

MD shot 24-27 for an extraordinarily high 88.9% free throw percentage. By contrast, MN shot 9-23 for a below average 39.1% free throw percentage. Interestingly, the MD starters made 20-21 free throws including 10-10 by Cowan and the next MD player with the most minutes off the bench made 2-2 in free throws, so the top 6 MD players, by minutes played, made 22-23 free throws. That is just stunning. It is exceedingly rare to see individual college players at a 90% accuracy level much less to have a team stat for its top players approaching 96% accuracy.

By contrast, the 9-23 stat for MN involved free throws by 4 starters and no other players off the bench. Even if MD had shot closer to a 70% level and if MN had improved to around a 70% level, the game would have been much closer than the 15 point differential but MD likely still would have won but with a margin of less than 5 points.

The free throw shooting in this game shows the importance of working to get the lead and holding it in the second half. There were many other factors that contributed to MD’s victory but the above average free throw shooting was a very important factor, too.
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Tim McTaggart is a student and instructor of basketball free throw shooting. McTaggart was a first team all league player in the Philadelphia Catholic League and winner of the Ferguson Scholar/Athlete award for Philadelphia high school players. He is a firm believer that all basketball players have the ability to improve their free throw shooting through a combination of improved practice drills, mental concentration drills and a focus on physical conditioning related to free throw shooting, all of which can be taught to players. Mr. McTaggart can be retained for a fee plus expenses to serve as a consultant, and provide instruction to youth basketball leagues/camps as well as high school programs/camps and professional programs on all aspects of basketball free throw shooting. He also is available to serve college programs subject to the NCAA limitations on the use of outside coaching consultants. He also is available for a fee plus expenses, as a public speaker for basketball topics at team aw