BYU Basketball: Cougars look to bounce back during in-state stretch
By Shaun Gordon
Make Free Throws
The Cougars are a decent free throw shooting team (73.4% overall), but they’re only good when they’re at home.
On the road they’re pretty miserable. In the season-opening loss at No. 5 Nevada, BYU only hit 12 of their 19 free throws (63.2%), and in Wednesday’s loss at Illinois State they hit just 69.4% of their gimmes.
Take TJ Haws out of Wednesday’s stats and the Cougars only shot 61.5% from the charity stripe.
Even Jashire Hardnett, BYU’s best free throw shooter, missed a free throw late in regulation that allowed the Redbirds to sink their own free throws and send the game into overtime.
BYU and Weber State have almost identical free throw percentages so far this season, but the difference is that the Cougars have shot 52 more free throws than Weber State. BYU does a good job at getting to the free throw line, but they struggle to convert when they’re on the road.
It’s a widely regarded fact that teams shoot worse on the road, but the Cougars’ home/road free throw discrepancy is alarming.
Expect to see BYU get to the free throw line regularly on Saturday night, but if they shoot below 70% from the charity stripe they’ll find themselves in the same type of battle that they lost on Wednesday.