Just looking at some numbers, and recalling complaints about FT shooting...
Purdue still shooting 68% from the line, which is right at the national average historically. As Brian noted, the problem is the two big men:
Hammons 63-97 (65%)
Haas 61-117 (52%)
Those two combined are 124-214 (58%).
Smotherman is the only other guy under 70% (46% on just 13 attempts).
The entire rest of the team is 287-394, good for 73%.
Mathias leads the team at 92%, 12-13.
Looking at the guys normally on the floor at the end of the game:
Octeus: 73%
Stephens: 72%
Davis: 74%
Edwards: 77%
Roll Mathias out there in end of game situations, and that whole group would be pretty good (just under 75% as a group).
This is less of a "Painter's teams suck at FT shooting" and more of a "big men struggle at FT shooting" issue. Considering the two bigs account for 35% of our total attempts despite playing just slightly less than 20% of the available minutes, I'd say we've found the problem. Neither Hammons nor Haas looks as bad at the line as Shaq. I'd think Haas has some ability to get better over time.
Purdue still shooting 68% from the line, which is right at the national average historically. As Brian noted, the problem is the two big men:
Hammons 63-97 (65%)
Haas 61-117 (52%)
Those two combined are 124-214 (58%).
Smotherman is the only other guy under 70% (46% on just 13 attempts).
The entire rest of the team is 287-394, good for 73%.
Mathias leads the team at 92%, 12-13.
Looking at the guys normally on the floor at the end of the game:
Octeus: 73%
Stephens: 72%
Davis: 74%
Edwards: 77%
Roll Mathias out there in end of game situations, and that whole group would be pretty good (just under 75% as a group).
This is less of a "Painter's teams suck at FT shooting" and more of a "big men struggle at FT shooting" issue. Considering the two bigs account for 35% of our total attempts despite playing just slightly less than 20% of the available minutes, I'd say we've found the problem. Neither Hammons nor Haas looks as bad at the line as Shaq. I'd think Haas has some ability to get better over time.
