Free throws aren’t so free these days. Just ask Jitim Young.
The sophomore guard stepped to the line late in Saturday’s game with a chance to cut Ohio State’s lead to four points, but both of his shots rimmed out.
While Young finished 3-for-9 from the foul line, he was by no means the only Wildcats player who couldn’t throw it in the ocean when it came to the freebies.
When Northwestern watches the tape of its 55-48 loss to the Buckeyes, there will undoubtedly be an array of curse words flying throughout the room, followed by an assortment of should’ves and could’ves.
And a majority of the comments will be referring to the Cats’ performance at the charity stripe.
NU’s free-throw shooting Saturday was abysmal. The Cats put up a 50 percent mark from the line, including a 44.4 percent mark in the second half.
Time and again, the Cats missed the front end of a one-and-one – including twice in a row midway through the second half – that could have helped them pull ahead of the Buckeyes.
The interesting thing is, despite the poor free-throw shooting, it was obvious Saturday night that NU has improved since head coach Bill Carmody arrived last season.
NU’s effort against the Buckeyes was much improved over what it was a year ago. The Cats’ defense was even stifling at times, holding Ohio State to just 41.2 percent shooting from the floor. And more impressively, NU kept the Buckeyes from making a single three-pointer, the first time Ohio State has failed to hit a shot from beyond the arc in 294 games.
NU is approaching the status of a hump team. The Cats are no longer the laughing stock of the Big Ten, and they’re on the verge of pulling out some big-time Big Ten victories.
Still, no matter how hard they work, the Cats aren’t going to make it over the hump until they start knocking down some shots, especially free throws. And Carmody realizes that.
“If you don’t have good shooters, usually you don’t have good foul shooters,” the coach said.
Young said he realizes it, too. So the question is, why is it so hard to make a shot 15 feet from the basket when no one is guarding you?
NU isn’t the only team having a hard time with that question these days. On Jan. 6, then-No. 1 Duke suffered its first loss of the year because star point guard Jason Williams couldn’t hit free throws down the stretch.
Williams lit it up from three-point range that night, going 8-for-12 against Florida State from behind the arc. But he missed six straight free throws late in the second half and the Blue Devils lost 77-76.
Williams offered little explanation for his inability to hit the free throws, only promising that he would make them next time.
“Some of those things happen,” Williams said at the time.
Still, no one expected Duke’s best player to foul up on the foul line. Good players make free throws when it counts, or at least they should.
Young is a good player. In fact, you could make a strong case that he’s NU’s best. Which is why his problems shooting from the line should turn heads.
Like Williams, Young also had trouble pinpointing why he struggled from the charity stripe Saturday night.
“I don’t even know – it was real frustrating out there,” the sophomore said. “I guess lack of concentration. When we’re at practice I hit pretty much every free throw.”
Young and his teammates may be able to hit 100 free throws in a row during practice, but that doesn’t change the fact that they gift-wrapped a victory for the Buckeyes when they missed 11 times from the foul line Saturday.
The one thing that’s certain is that the Cats must improve on their 60.4 percent shooting from the foul line this year. Otherwise they’ll find themselves on the losing end of more close games.
Because if you can’t make free throws, you can’t win games. It doesn’t matter how good you are.
Just ask Jason Williams.
Justin Goldsborough is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected].
