Clang! BYU's free throw shooting is at Shaquille O'Neal levels
By D.A. Sweat
For a team that’s loaded with sharpshooters, through four games this year BYU has been inexplicably bad at the free throw line.
How bad?
Like Shaquille O’Neal bad.
BYU is just 44-of-75, or 58.7% from the free throw line this season. Shaquille O’Neal, who will forever be associated with poor performance from the charity stripe, shot 52.7% from the free throw line during his Hall of Fame career.
That’s right. Coach Kevin Young’s squad is just barely outpacing the Shaq Daddy from the line.
Recent History
While it’s a small sample size through just four games and the Cougs could still find their groove from the free throw line, their 58.7% performance thus far massively lags the team’s recent performance:
2024-25 - 58.7% (four games)
2023-24 - 74.2%
2022-23 - 71.7%
2021-22 - 71.8%
2020-21 - 72.5%
2019-20 - 70.0%
In the five seasons leading up to this year, BYU had shot in the low-to-mid 70-percent range every year. That’s not a great result, but it’s not terrible, either. But that means that so far in the 2024-25 season the Cougs are shooting over 15 percentage points below their normal standard.
The Perpetrators
Shaquille O’Neal used to pull down his entire team’s free throw percentage given the high volume of attempts he averaged and the low percentage he successfully made. BYU doesn’t have a Shaq-type player on their roster who is impacting the broader team. Through four games almost every BYU player has been clanging their free throws.
Somehow Egor Denim is shooting 64% from the field, but just 50% (5-of-10) from the line. The freshman from Russia is colder than a Siberian winter.
Remarkably, three of BYU’s most important players are all shooting 44% from the line. Both Kanon Catchings and Richie Saunders are 4-of-9 while Keba Keita is 7-of-16. Of the three, Catchings is the most concerning as his free throw routine is downright bizarre. He seems to stand slightly off center from the basket and then rushes his shot without really finding the rim. He has such a silky smooth 3-point release that with a little coaching he should be able to fix his free throw mechanics.
The only high-volume free throw shooter really excelling so far this year is Fousseyni Traore who has made eight of his nine attempts.
The Potential Implications
Missing boatloads of free throws against teams like Idaho and Queens is a minor annoyance.
Missing boatloads of free throws against Big 12 foes like Kansas, Baylor, Arizona, and Houston is potentially fatal.
The Cougs simply cannot clang away upward of half a dozen points every game in conference play by missing free throws. There are just way too many elite teams in the Big 12 that can score in waves, and BYU will need to match them every time they take the court. Missing free throws in college hoops is especially catastrophic where one-and-ones are concerned. Nothing makes it harder to close out a win or come back from behind like missing the front ends of multiple one-and-ones.
The good news is BYU is 4-0 despite their poor free throw shooting.
These tune-up games before the gauntlet of the Big 12 schedule help teams identify areas to improve. Kevin Young’s a smart coach.
What his Cougs need to improve is obvious.
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