Free throw shooting makes difference in College Park

Free-throw shooting is a common sight in any organized basketball game.

A player stands behind a line 15 feet from the hoop and tries to deliver a sphere into a metal ring 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet above the ground. 

But sometimes, it happens a lot. 

Saturday night marked one of those instances for Pitt and the University of Maryland, when the visiting Panthers escaped from College Park, Md., with an 83-79 victory. 

Between the two groups, 77 shots left hands and either continued their trajectory through the air, hit a piece of metal and dropped inside or traveled beyond the intended location.  

The Panthers made 32 of their free throws, a 68-percent success rate well below their season average. But the quantity, not the quality, was what made the most difference in a contest won by four points.

The Terrapins (11-9, 3-4 ACC) made more free throws than any team has against Pitt (18-2, 6-1 ACC) all season, sinking 23. 

It was the most Pitt has made since sinking 30 against Stanford in November and also the most it has tried since 38 against Savannah State in the first game of the season. According to Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon, his team planned it that way.

“I wanted to get into the lane and get fouled, and we attacked the basket, I thought, well,” Dixon said. “That was what we wanted to do.” 

“[The refs] are calling the game different. There’s gonna be more scoring.” 

Redshirt senior Lamar Patterson led the way for his teammates during that stretch of almost unheard of aptitude, hitting seven of his eventual 12 free throws in the opening period. He led all scorers with 28 points.

“It’s easy to get in a rhythm, especially if you’re making your free throws — that’s the biggest thing,” Patterson said. “Whenever a basketball player sees a ball going through the basket, it gets you in a rhythm. Gets you a good feeling.”

His offensive approach exemplified what the team wanted to achieve from the start.     

“It was going to be physical. You didn’t want to settle for jump shots,” Dixon said. “[Patterson] took what was there.”  

Redshirt senior Talib Zanna was fouled as much as his classmate, but couldn’t quite capitalize on the resulting opportunities, making eight free throws  and 5-of-6 late in the game. 

“I was just trying to make shots down the stretch,” Zanna said. “It was hard in that half.”

As a big man at 6-foot-9, the Nigeria native has attracted the stigma of not being able to shoot “unguarded 15-footers,” but he doesn’t find the repetitive task arduous.  

“It’s not tough. I just gotta keep practicing, stay in the gym,” he said. “I’m going to fix it.”

Zanna’s attitude toward free throws is a good thing for his team because he will return to that familiar spot on the court soon enough. 

“We get to the line far more than our opponents, and it’s something that we emphasize, and I think we’re getting better at, too. I think we’ve gotten better since we’ve gotten to league play,” Dixon said. “We’re better end of [shot] clock and midway through clock of attacking not settling, so it’s improvement.”

How much more frequent are Pitt’s trips to the line? It has exceeded its opponents’ combined attempts this season by more than 100 free throws. 

After converting 16-of-17 free throws in the first half, Pitt could not continue its almost-perfect rate in the second half. The Panthers shot just 53.3 percent (16-for-30), including a 4-of-10 performance in the last two minutes of the contest that allowed the home team to stay within two scores until the final buzzer. 

“We could’ve shot some free throws better, but you’re not gonna shoot 80 percent all the time,” Dixon said. “90 percent [94.1] in the first half and shoot as well in the second half.” 

What made his players’ change of fortune at the stripe so bad in the circumstances, though, was its sudden appearance and rapid descent.

Starting point guard James Robinson, a sophomore, fouled out with a little more than a minute left. Seconds later, his replacement, freshman Josh Newkirk, missed back-to-back free throws. 

With Robinson out and Newkirk on the floor, Maryland forward Evan Smotrycz immediately fouled Newkirk as soon as he touched the ball. The strategy paid off for the Terrapins.

In the time remaining, the Panthers failed to put the game out of reach by missing six of their last 10 free-throw attempts. 

The declining success as the game progressed didn’t have to do with fatigue, the crowd or other external factors, according to redshirt junior guard Cameron Wright. 

“Nah, it’s not about that. We’ve just got to step up to the line and knock ‘em down next time,” Wright said. “That’s all it is.”

He shot 4-of-9 total and went 2-for-6 at the end of the game.

But Pitt’s inability to fully capitalize on what Maryland surrendered didn’t matter, and Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon knew why. 

“We fouled too much,” Turgeon said. “I know we fouled a lot late, but 47’s a lot of free throws in the game.”