I am getting tired of people picking/taking it out on fifth senior Marcus Ginyard anytime North Carolina loses this season, something that has happened nine times this season. He was brought to Chapel Hill to play defense, and while it might be true that Carolina hasn’t had a good year on that side of the ball, it’s not why, or better said, it’s not the main reason why they are losing games. The reality is that the Heels are missing two players’ (Tyler Hansbrough & Ty Lawson) skills from last season. Here is where you are going to say “for their leadership” or “for their creating” or “for toughness”. Nope, none of the above. The Tar Heels are missing them for one plain thing: their free throw shooting. (Of course the two ex Heels are missed for their leadership and the rest, but this post is about what a bit of work on things that anyone can develop on would make a difference).
In last night’s game Larry Drew and Dexter Strickland went 3 for 4 from the charity stripe. Not bad, 75%, but still not as good as Lawson last year, where he would hit for 79.8% overall and 85.9% (that is close to 11% better) in conference play. In the meantime Ed Davis and Deon Thompson went 9 for 16 (56.2%), nowhere what the guy before them did last season, averaging 84.1% overall and 84.3 (close to 20% better) in the ACC. Had the two big men shot the same way Hansbrough did a year ago the game would have been tied at the end of the two halves. Which does not include if either of them missed the front end of a 1 and 1 and then this could have been a win.
It’s that simple. Hit your free throws and you win games. End of story. End of the line. Now will free throws solve everything that is wrong with this team? Of course not, but it’s a start and it is something that players can go out there and work on their own. You want to be there at crunch time you need to be hitting free throws, or else, for as good as you are you are not going to be on the court when time is winding down. This season is still not over, a couple of touches here and there and some extra work and we could definitely see the improvement we all want to see.
