The difference in Michigan State’s one-point win over Tennessee was clear on the stat sheet. In the same number of attempts (21), the Spartans made two more free throws than the Volunteers (one of which came with 1.8 seconds left). Later on Sunday, Duke beat Baylor in large part because of its second-half foul shooting.
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Sadly, foul shooting is a reason several teams were eliminated. And other teams are lucky it hasn’t hurt them. It also could be a predictor for the title game.
Before we get to that, how about this: In its last two games, Kentucky made a combined 32 of 55 free throws. Bye, bye. And the problems stemmed from the guys who are supposed to be good at the line: the guards. The Wildcats’ three starting guards combined to make seven of 18 free throws in their loss to West Virginia. Kansas State, in a seven-point loss to Butler, missed half of its 14 free throws.
Teams we would expect to make more foul shots did not. Northern Iowa (14-for-21), Cornell (8-for-13) and St. Mary’s (5-for-8) struggled at the line.
Only two of the past 12 games saw both teams make at least 70 percent of their foul shots.
Know this: In the 12 games played since Thursday, the team that shot a higher percentage from the line won 11 times. But also be warned, because in two games, Duke made 80.4 percent and Michigan State was next at 75 percent. However, for the season the Spartans are the worst free throw shooting team left, trailing Duke (76 percent), Butler (74 percent) and WVU (70 percent). Don’t be surprised if next weekend free throws again make the difference.
