North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Wolfpack Cashing in on Freebies
2/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2004
By Tony Haynes
Here's something the NC State basketball team has in common with media members who cover the ACC: both take full advantage of freebies. My esteemed colleagues of the written and broadcast press (yours truly included) always arrive plenty early before every game to take full (make that FULL) advantage of the press meal that is served in the cafeteria, I mean media room. The basketball version of a free press meal is a shot known as the free throw. And just like media members who pounce on free food, the Pack rarely passes up an opportunity to add points to the scoreboard when offered a free shot from the 15-foot line.
After hitting 23-of-25 in Sunday's 81-69 ACC win at Maryland, NC State is now shooting 79.4 percent from the line, a deadly accuracy rate that ranks No. 1 in the nation. Barring a collapse of major proportions, the Wolfpack is well on its way to finishing as the ACC's top free throw shooting team for the third consecutive year, something that hasn't been done since North Carolina posted the best percentage four straight years between 1983-86.
This season, the Wolfpack is threatening the league's all-time free throw percentage record for a team, which was set by Duke in 1978 (.791).
"It really is a weapon for us," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek when asked about his team's prowess at the free throw line. "Free throws are like field goal kicking in football, I suppose. You could drive all the way down the field and if you don't get in the end zone, you want three points at least. Basketball is the same way. If you execute your offense in a way that you draw a foul, you want to be rewarded for that."
Before Sunday's game, getting to the line on the road had been a difficult task for the Pack. Averaging just 10.5 free throw attempts in its previous six road games, the Wolfpack already had more than that (11-11) by halftime in College Park.
Then at the end of the game, when they were trying to stop the clock by fouling, the Terrapins could find no easy fouling targets on the floor. Who are you going to foul in end of game situations? Julius Hodge is shooting 84.5 percent. Scooter Sherrill is at 90 percent. Marcus Melvin is knocking down 79.3 percent from the stripe. Ilian Evtimov is an 81.4 percent free throw shooter.
A total of five NC State players are shooting 80 percent or better, while Melvin and Jordan Collins (77.8 percent) are just shy of that figure. Since missing the front end of two one-and-ones at South Carolina on December 20th, Hodge has drained 41 of his last 43 attempts, including a perfect 10 out of 10 at Maryland.
Freshman Engin Atsur is hitting just 58.3 percent of his free throws, but even that figure is somewhat deceiving given the fact that he's settled down after getting off to a horrible start at the line.
In an effort to simulate pressure situations, Sendek will regularly stop practices and randomly pick out one player to shoot two free throws. The player chosen must make both, otherwise, the entire team must run. When Atsur was struggling earlier in the season, he was often pegged as the player to step up to the line and shoot in practice. Since that time, he's become a much better free throw shooter under pressure.
At the end of each practice, every player must make a certain number of free throws in a row before they can leave the court. Sometimes, they're even told to 'swish' a certain number of those shots. By shooting at the end of practice, players get a feel for what it's like to shoot when they're tired, something they must be able to do at the end of games.
The night before the Maryland game, Sendek ended a short practice by conducting a free throw shooting contest. The rules were simple: shoot until you miss. Every time a player was eliminated, he had to stand inside the center circle at midcourt until the contest ended. The last two players still shooting were Sherrill and Hodge. Despite the fact that their teammates, tightly bunched at halfcourt, did everything possible to distract them with hoots and heckles, Sherrill and Hodge never did miss. In the end, Sendek called it a tie.
It's a good thing because with this team, a shoot-to-you-miss contest could have lasted all night.
