UConn stats....not so "free" Huskies' free throws...

[DavidinNaples]

Quick quiz, name the two players who went to the free throw line the most last season. If you guessed Megan Walker, you are half right. She had 95 free throw attempts. The other player is far harder to guess. It was Aubrey Griffin with 93 charity tries, only 2 less than Megan, in half the minutes. That is where the similarity ends. Walker made 78 or 82.1% of her free throws, while Aubrey was a dismal 56-93 or 60.2%. (Edit - Aubrey did improve as the season progressed. Thanks Easy Ed)

Some players have a talent for getting fouled and taking free throws. Aubrey is too athletic to cover, so opponents just foul her. But 60% success is not good enough and she will need to improve. Can a player get better at making free throws? Well, Crystal Dangerfield shot LESS than 60% her freshman year (59.3%) and improved to 86% as a senior. Clearly, another starter who needs to practice more at the stripe is Olivia. Her 54.5% from the line (42-77) was actually an improvement on her freshman season of 53.2% (50-94).

Crystal and Megan were the two best free throw shooters, in terms of accuracy, at 86% and 82.1%. They are gone now and this year's team needs to get better at both getting to the charity stripe and making their tries. Anna played 843 minutes, but took only 16 free throws. Olivia played the exact same number of minutes, took 77 tries, but only made the 54.5%. Christyn found the happy middle ground with 86 attempts and 74.4% accuracy. Still room to get better.

As a team, the Huskies shot 69.7% from the free throw line last year. By far the worst total in recent memory and well below the impressive 80% Stewie's senior year. Maybe the returning players spent quarantine practicing free throws and maybe the rookies are already pretty good from the charity stripe.

Go Huskies..!!

 

[oldhusky]

View attachment 60978

Quick quiz, name the two players who went to the free throw line the most last season. If you guessed Megan Walker, you are half right. She had 95 free throw attempts. The other player is far harder to guess. It was Aubrey Griffin with 93 charity tries, only 2 less than Megan, in half the minutes. That is where the similarity ends. Walker made 78 or 82.1% of her free throws, while Aubrey was a dismal 56-93 or 60.2%.

Some players have a talent for getting fouled and taking free throws. Aubrey is too athletic to cover, so opponents just foul her. But 60% success is not good enough and she will need to improve. Can a player get better at making free throws? Well, Crystal Dangerfield shot LESS than 60% her freshman year (59.3%) and improved to 86% as a senior. Clearly, another starter who needs to practice more at the stripe is Olivia. Her 54.5% from the line (42-77) was actually an improvement on her freshman season of 53.2% (50-94).

Crystal and Megan were the two best free throw shooters, in terms of accuracy, at 86% and 82.1%. They are gone now and this year's team needs to get better at both getting to the charity stripe and making their tries. Anna played 843 minutes, but took only 16 free throws. Olivia played the exact same number of minutes, took 77 tries, but only made the 54.5%. Christyn found the happy middle ground with 86 attempts and 74.4% accuracy. Still room to get better.

As a team, the Huskies shot 69.7% from the free throw line last year. By far the worst total in recent memory and well below the impressive 80% Stewie's senior year. Maybe the returning players spent quarantine practicing free throws and maybe the rookies are already pretty good from the charity stripe.

Go Huskies..!!

All good info, but I think the inability to draw fouls was a more serious issue than the percentage. Only one player (Aubrey) drew fouls at a really good rate. Part of that was having a C that tends to avoid rather than seek out contact. She is more finesse than banger and of course last year our PF (Walker) was more of a stretch 4, and Dangerfield did not take it to the basket that often.

I suspect Paige and Nika will take it to the hole more than Crystal, and we won't be using so much of a stretch 4 this year, with Aubrey driving and Aaliyah having the capability to bang down low.

 

[Bama fan]

View attachment 60978

Quick quiz, name the two players who went to the free throw line the most last season. If you guessed Megan Walker, you are half right. She had 95 free throw attempts. The other player is far harder to guess. It was Aubrey Griffin with 93 charity tries, only 2 less than Megan, in half the minutes. That is where the similarity ends. Walker made 78 or 82.1% of her free throws, while Aubrey was a dismal 56-93 or 60.2%.

Some players have a talent for getting fouled and taking free throws. Aubrey is too athletic to cover, so opponents just foul her. But 60% success is not good enough and she will need to improve. Can a player get better at making free throws? Well, Crystal Dangerfield shot LESS than 60% her freshman year (59.3%) and improved to 86% as a senior. Clearly, another starter who needs to practice more at the stripe is Olivia. Her 54.5% from the line (42-77) was actually an improvement on her freshman season of 53.2% (50-94).

Crystal and Megan were the two best free throw shooters, in terms of accuracy, at 86% and 82.1%. They are gone now and this year's team needs to get better at both getting to the charity stripe and making their tries. Anna played 843 minutes, but took only 16 free throws. Olivia played the exact same number of minutes, took 77 tries, but only made the 54.5%. Christyn found the happy middle ground with 86 attempts and 74.4% accuracy. Still room to get better.

As a team, the Huskies shot 69.7% from the free throw line last year. By far the worst total in recent memory and well below the impressive 80% Stewie's senior year. Maybe the returning players spent quarantine practicing free throws and maybe the rookies are already pretty good from the charity stripe.

Go Huskies..!!

Do you have information on type of fouls called against UConn? I t would be interesting to understand how many free throws were "and ones" vs two free throws with no basket made. It seems that shooting 60% of "and ones" would bolster total score, but 60% of no basket two freebies would drastically alter the final score negatively. Making baskets while getting fouled is an art some players master, others not so much. If you do not make the basket, you better darn sure make the freebies.

 

[hoophuskee]

All the more why this year is so fascinating. Who knows?

But I expect more free throws because I think they'll press more in which the press will be better as well. Also I think the pg play will be unlike anything we've seen before as long as Evina is healthy and ofc Paige. They are "big slashing pgs" (at least I've been told Evina is also). As a result on fastbreaks and halfcourt sets they will be more aggressive getting in the lane. That should result in more fouls. Generally guards are better shooters so ft%'s should improve.

In addition Liv and Griff- their %'s should improve even if only by a little. Also- Evina's ft% as a frosh was 51.3%. As a soph 72.1%.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Aubrey Griffin with 93 charity tries. Aubrey was a dismal 56-93 or 60.2%.

I agree Aubrey needs to improve her free throw percentage. Another "statistic" of interest is her effect on the other team's foul total. Will she get opponents into foul trouble if she plays 28-32 minutes a game? If so, she would soften them up for more uncontested or lightly contested buckets.

 

[oldhusky]

I agree Aubrey needs to improve her free throw percentage. Another "statistic" of interest is her effect on the other team's foul total. Will she get opponents into foul trouble if she plays 28-32 minutes a game? If so, she would soften them up for more uncontested or lightly contested buckets.

In a way we had a team where the players best at making them don't draw them, and the only player that drew them doesn't make them.

 

[EasyEd]

I thought Aubrey was horrendous at the beginning of the season, but it seemed she made them better in the last half of the seaon. At least, that was my impression.