They call them free throws for a reason. But at times this season, it seems like the LSU men’s basketball team is having to pay for them.
Despite the fact LSU made 23 free throws against Alabama on Jan. 10, the Tigers shot only 63.9 percent from the line. In a contest that came down to free-throw shooting, the Tigers failed to finish the game on more than one occasion from the line down the stretch.
LSU erased Alabama’s 12-point lead late in the second half with a barrage of 3-pointers. Antonio Hudson nailed a 3-pointer with less than a minute to play to give the Tigers a 65-64 advantage.
But LSU could not finish the Crimson Tide. Sophomore guard Darrel Mitchell went to the free-throw line with 36 seconds to play, but only hit 1-of-2 to extend the lead to 66-64. Alabama failed to convert on its next trip down the court and the Crimson Tide fouled Hudson but the junior leader hit only 1-of-2 from the line in a situation where the Tigers could have made it a two-possession game.
Instead, the Tigers led by three and gave Bama a chance to climb back into the game. But the Tide failed to convert, giving Hudson yet another chance to redeem himself at the line. Hudson again hit 1-of-2, giving LSU a four-point advantage.
On Alabama’s next trip, Kennedy Winston made a short jump-shot with five seconds to cut LSU’s lead to two, 68-66. Had the Tigers made free throws down the stretch, the score should have read 71-66 at this point in the game.
Finally, it took the effort of freshman guard Tack Minor to put the game out of reach. Alabama fouled Minor on the inbound play and he proceeded to crush the Tide by hitting a pair from the free-throw line in a clutch situation.
“I told [Antoine Pettway], ‘This first one is going to go in and you’ll be quiet,'” Minor said. “Then I drained the second, and it took all his confidence out of him.”
Hudson, who finished 4-of-6 from the line, said although the team struggled from the line down the stretch, the Tigers still won the game.
“We have to work on that in practice – extra time,” Hudson said. “Free throws I feel like are just mainly mental. We’ve just got to work on it. But we won, so that’s all that matters to me.”
Jaime Lloreda’s woes from the free-throw line have been well-documented, and the senior from Colon, Panama struggled mightily against the Crimson Tide. Lloreda hit only 2-of-8 from the stripe.
LSU coach John Brady said he was a little concerned with the free-throw shooting, especially in Hudson’s case.
“Hud could have iced the game earlier had he made his, and he didn’t,” Brady said. “I reacted to Hud when he missed his first one to ice the game, that really bothered me. Not because he missed it, because I want to see him do something like that to really get his confidence at a high, high level. Something like that in a crucial situation can do it.”
Brady said he controls everything that happens on the court – except for whether or not the shots fall.
“I control who shoots from where [and] the play they run,” Brady said. “I try to control how hard they play by making them play hard all the time in practice. But, you know, when it leaves their hands, I don’t control any of that. And I’m getting to the point where things I can’t control, I can’t worry about that.
Brady compared this team’s struggles from the free-throw line with last year’s shooting struggles.
“It’s like last year’s team – when we didn’t shoot it well, I didn’t get uptight about all that. We still believed in what we were doing. [The shots] weren’t going in. It’s not my fault, it’s just something we were going through. And then, we started making shots down the stretch because we don’t have a disbelief in what we were doing. Same thing here, we get to the free-throw line, you’ve done well. Now, you’ve just got to make them.
When asked whether or not Brady would emphasize free throws more in practice, the coach shrugged it off.
“I’ve been coaching 28 years,” Brady said. “Is it in the novel [for] me just to all of a sudden emphasize free-throw shooting? I’ll take care of that. But I appreciate you reminding me of that, in case I’ve overlooked it.”