Free-Throw Shooting 'Deflating' for Indiana Basketball Right Now - Sports Illustrated

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Archie Miller was posed a question Wednesday about the team's inability to consistently knock down three-point shots.

Miller began his answer by saying he was a good shooter at NC State and that "shooters shoot." He doesn't think his team can't shoot the ball, and he's not necessarily worried about it since the Hoosiers are generating quality shots.

There was something other than the three-point shooting that Miller thinks is hurting the team right now.

"The more frustrating thing for me right now isn't three-point shooting. The more frustrating thing for me and my staff is free-throw shooting," Miller said. "Free-throw shooting is absolutely killing us right now. It's deflating. It hurts when you can't make them."

Indiana does a good job at getting to the free-throw line each game, averaging 14.5 free-throw attempts per game this season. The problem is Indiana can't knock them down.

The Hoosiers are shooting just 67% from the line this season. Indiana missed 13 free throws the last time it was on the floor last Thursday against Purdue. The Boilermakers won the game by 12.

"At the end of the day, you come up empty, so my focus isn't three-point shooting right now. That'll find its way to have some good and bad," Miller said. "We have to be able to be a better free-throw shooting team if we're gonna be able to win some of the games on our schedule."

Al Durham is a career 75% free-throw shooter in his career. But this season, Durham is only shooting 65% from the charity stripe.

It's something the senior captain knows needs to be addressed.

"We gotta get it under control," Durham said. "I come in and shoot free throws like I've always done. I mean, the percentages don't show it as of right now, but I've been a good free-throw percentage shooter obviously the past three years, so it's only a matter of time before that work and the numbers level out."

Durham said the team works on free throws before practice, during practice and after practice. It's not a matter of not putting in the work, but it's a matter of practice not translating into the game environment.

But because of how much work Indiana is doing to try to fix its free-throw shooting woes right now, Durham feels confident the team will improve in that area as the season goes on.

"I'm not really worried about that," Durham said. "We've been working on that as a team. We've been shooting free throws during practice, after practice, before practice, so it's just a matter of time before the work just shows I feel like."

Indiana Free-Throw Shooting as of Jan. 20.
Player	Free Throws Made	Free Throws Attempted	Percentage
Trayce Jackson-Davis	86	125	69%
Armaan Franklin	22	30	73%
Al Durham	26	40	65%
Race Thompson	37	60	62%
Rob Phinisee	16	25	64%
Jerome Hunter	1	4	25%
Trey Galloway	8	9	89%
Khristian Lander	6	6	100%
Anthony Leal	1	2	50%
Jordan Geronimo	0	4	0%