Gophers’ poor free throw shooting resurfaces – Twin Cities

The margin of error for the Gophers men’s basketball team is proving to be razor sharp this season. Four of their first six games have been decided by four points or less.

The final 20 seconds of Monday’s 68-65 win over Central Michigan came down to Minnesota going 2 for 4 from the free throw line and the Chippes making 1 of 2 from the stripe and missing two game-tying 3-pointers.

U could have put the game away if they would have done better on the line. Instead, they shot 10 for 17 (59%) over 40 minutes.

In this season’s small sample size, Minnesota is shooting 63% from the line, which is 334th in the nation. This is not a recent dip. U-shots in the 60s the previous two years, after making 72% in head coach Ben Johnson’s first season. It can literally be a matter of wins and losses.

The Gophers will need all the points they can muster in the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando, Fla. this week. Minnesota (5-1) plays Wichita State (5-0) at 11 a.m. Thursday. If they win, they will play in the championship against either no. 18 Florida (6-0) or Wake Forest (6-1) on Friday. If the U’s fall, they will play the second game’s loser in a third-place tie.

Johnson said Monday that he tries to take it easy on his team’s free throws.

“If you’re a head coach and you harp on it so much, who do you think is going to feel it? Your players,” he said. “So if I make such a big deal about it — like over the top — and they can sense that I’m insecure about it, they feel it.”

Johnson tries to instill confidence in his players to find what works for them as they shoot at the Athletes Village training facility and transfer that to matches. He feels that a few early makes from the stripe can rub off on the next guy.

“Once that happens, then there’s confidence in the whole room, like, ‘this is what we’re doing now,’ versus if a couple of guys go up there and they’re not successful early, then it’s on the backs of the players. mind,” Johnson said. “It’s just human nature.”

One complaint from fans is that players should practice misfiring more often. “It’s always funny to me that people don’t think that every college team doesn’t spend an insane amount of time on free throws,” Johnson said.

The Gophers practice it plenty, but sometimes it doesn’t translate when game pressure is added to the equation. “It’s a completely different shot when there are fans in the crowd than when you’re in (Athletes Village), shooting in an empty gym or shooting them with teammates,” Johnson said.

But one baseline is how only four of the Gophers’ eight veteran rotation players have career shooting percentages above 70 — Dawson Garcia, Mike Mitchell, Lu’Cye Patters and Brennan Rigsby. Four others are below 60%.