4. Free throw shooting continues to be embarrassing
Hello darkness, my old friend. Here we are again. I have to make this a slide every time it happens because it is brutal to watch.
Illinois can’t make free throws. It is incredible. I have never seen anything like it. Brad Underwood did a great job pulling together so much talent, but yet, very few of these big-time DI athletes who have professional aspirations can make an uncontested free throw from 15 feet away.
The free throw woes continued on Friday night. Against Oakland, Illinois converted 8-of-16 from the charity stripe, which is 50%. This poor free throw shooting performance is fresh off a game against Eastern Illinois where we shot 52.2% from the free throw line.
In 18 out of the 33 games Illinois played last season, we shot below 70% from the charity stripe. That is how you finish the season making 67.9% of your free throws, which ranked No. 309 out of 363 DI programs.
This year’s rendition of the men’s Illinois basketball program said, “Bad free throw shooting? Hold my beer.” Through the first two games this season, the Illini are now hitting 51.3% from the free throw line. That is bad enough to rank No. 312 in the country.
Do you remember the term Hack-a-Shaq? It was created because teams were fouling NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal because they couldn’t stop him in the paint, and he was so bad at free throws. Guess what, Shaq shot 52.7% from the free throw line during his career. That is better than Illinois’ free throw percentage as a team this season. That is how bad this program is from the charity stripe.
It is embarrassing seeing these talented players not be able to convert at the free throw line. If we just started making free throws, life would be a lot easier. I don’t think anything is going to change, though.