Still comes down to free throws

gigantor1024

All-Conference
Apr 6, 2006
6,166
3,384
0
Hit the ones we’re given and we win.

But there were a lot of bad swing play calls in this game.
The no fouls on Johnson in first half were putrid.

No contact foul on Reiber against Garza was bad
 
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GORU2014

All-Conference
Sep 4, 2013
2,640
4,670
113
Hit the ones we’re given and we win.

But there were a lot of bad swing play calls in this game.
The no fouls on Johnson in first half were putrid.

No contact foul on Reiber against Garza was bad
We have control over one of those things
 

richthedentist

All-American
Aug 2, 2001
11,034
8,599
113
Geo fouled on the last possession was ******** the first half was atrocious on foul calls we got hammered at least 4-5 times with no calls
 

Leonard23

Heisman
Feb 2, 2006
30,121
12,339
113
Yeah we gotta shoot better FTs but the officiating has to get better too. Can't constantly have to overcome erratic and one-sided officiating/fouls and FT shooting. The ghost phantom swat fouls were a joke on several plays, and no calls when we're hacked. B1G officials are a joke.
 

RUJMM78

Heisman
Jul 25, 2001
26,221
12,484
113
There is no margin for error in the B1G and horrendous foul shooting by Rutgers was the difference.Iowa lives on the foul line and Garza got 25 points.
 

bitnez

All-American
Jan 18, 2006
6,484
7,147
113
If we make them we win. Period. We’re too good to be this bad. They’re called “free” for a reason.
 

brad1218

Senior
May 4, 2003
8,765
823
0
We absolutely lost this game because of our poor foul shooting. I don’t care how uneven the fouls were called, but when you shoot 4-12 from the line and lose by 2 points, it’s on you.
Disagree. We are bad free throw shooting team. It is what it is. We will be a bad free throw shooting team all year. We have other things that we do really well. Every team team has weaknesses.
 

RUby RED

All-Conference
Aug 9, 2010
1,857
2,683
0
For a player who shoots as well as Ron from 3 to be as bad at the line as him is shocking. 0-3 tonight atrocious
 
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Leonard23

Heisman
Feb 2, 2006
30,121
12,339
113
We absolutely lost this game because of our poor foul shooting. I don’t care how uneven the fouls were called, but when you shoot 4-12 from the line and lose by 2 points, it’s on you.
How can you say you don't care how uneven the fouls were called? It's clearly a huge factor. Sure, we need to hit FTs but if we got more attempts and they got fewer, then we're up a few points. Silly. It all matters.
 

Degaz-RU

Heisman
Dec 19, 2002
22,385
26,703
88
Disagree. We are bad free throw shooting team. It is what it is. We will be a bad free throw shooting team all year. We have other things that we do really well. Every team team has weaknesses.

I don’t understand this. You’re agreeing we’re bad on FTs, and we went 4-12, so how can you disagree that we lost this game at the line?

We quite literally lost this game at the line. Go even 7-12 and we win.
 

Degaz-RU

Heisman
Dec 19, 2002
22,385
26,703
88
How can you say you don't care how uneven the fouls were called? It's clearly a huge factor. Sure, we need to hit FTs but if we got more attempts and they got fewer, then we're up a few points. Silly. It all matters.

Well of course the whistle is unfair. But if we just hit a few more of the FTs we were given, we win. Simple as that. Can’t keep blaming the officials. At some point you have to adapt and overcome.
 

rutobs

Senior
Jan 26, 2012
322
402
63
Agree with all that is said, but we still have to fight through bad ref's and make our FT's. Also, would have liked to see Harper take is tougher to the hole in the 2nd half. He was cold as ice the whole half.

The silver lining though is that we got McConnell back and Reiber played a lot. Will help us as the season goes along.
 

RUChoppin

Heisman
Dec 1, 2006
19,270
13,695
0
Disagree. We are bad free throw shooting team. It is what it is. We will be a bad free throw shooting team all year. We have other things that we do really well. Every team team has weaknesses.

Harper's a career 69% FT shooter, and shot 0-3.... he shoots his average and it's a different game.
 

richthedentist

All-American
Aug 2, 2001
11,034
8,599
113
Yeah we were horrible but the disparity in number of fouls and absolute horrible calls cost us this game
 

RUChoppin

Heisman
Dec 1, 2006
19,270
13,695
0
Yeah we were horrible but the disparity in number of fouls and absolute horrible calls cost us this game

Iowa largely stays in a zone, and overall their style of defense doesn't lend itself to as many fouls as our switching-man defense does. There were a ton of fouls that were "let go" by the refs on both sides, some very blatant - but that's the style of officiating we want, because it keeps Johnson on the floor.

End of day, we lost this game at the FT line. Shoot 66% from the line, and we aren't scrambling on a final possession. Blew more than a couple layups, too. Need to convert freebies - whether they're at the line or at the rim.
 

leftoright

All-American
Jun 2, 2017
10,153
5,686
113
Isn't there a Dr Fauci of free throws who can come in and tell these guys exactly what to do.? They NEED more SCIENCE!.
 

goru7

All-American
Dec 12, 2005
6,432
7,711
113
Simplicistically yes if we convert at the line we have a bigger lead and win. But it is not the first game we have shot poorly and in 2 games we shot real well to win. However, the numerous missed open shots , layups, mid range and wide open threes which we have been making this year was off yesterday. We really should have been up 10 or more . We took a 7 point lead at 54-47 and could have stretched it to 10-13 but Ron missed a couple of open threes from nice dishes from TeZ. The next thing Iowa goes on a8-0 run and we are down 55-54 and then it is tight the rest of the way. Also , in the first half we could have extended our lead and missed some easy shots. Ron looked just off yesterday and the way everybody else in the starting lineup was contributing , I think we deferred to him when Geo orJacob or Tex could have gone off.
 
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RUChoppin

Heisman
Dec 1, 2006
19,270
13,695
0
Simplicistically yes if we convert at the line we have a bigger lead and win. But it is not the first game we have shot poorly and in 2 games we shot real well to win. However, the numerous missed open shots , layups, mid range and wide open threes which we have been making this year was off yesterday. We really should have been up 10 or more . We took a 7 point lead at 54-47 and could have stretched it to 10-13 but Ron missed a couple of open threes from nice dishes from TeZ. The next thing Iowa goes on a8-0 run and we are down 55-54 and then it is tight the rest of the way. Also , in the first half we could have extended our lead and missed some easy shots. Ron looked just off yesterday and the way everybody else in the starting lineup was contributing , I think we deferred to him when Geo orJacob or Tex could have gone off.

I think they were trying to get Harper going, and get him unstuck. He's had games in the past where a quiet first half turned into an explosive second half. Don't know if he still wasn't 100%, or if something else was going on - but his touch was off, especially at the FT line.

They were also trying to get McConnell back into the offensive flow, but he was very rusty with his shot.

The offensive plan was sound, as it got us the shots we needed to win - we just didn't get enough of those to go through the hoop. A handful of open layups, and enough trips to the line... but couldn't convert them into points. Defensive plan was also sound, and executed well overall.

Get another crack at them on 2/10
 
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fluoxetine

Heisman
Nov 11, 2012
23,529
16,898
0
The free throw shooting has been brutally bad every year of Pikiell's tenor, enough so that there is probably a good enough sample size to conclude that he is responsible for it (whether this is because of the coaching or the recruiting is unknown).

That being said, you can question how much time should actually be spend trying to improve this.. over Pikiell's tenure we have shot 1580/2478 (63.76%) over 138 games. This is terrible to be sure.

However, the D1 avg FT shooting is slightly over 71%.. we'll round up to 72% just because. If we shot 72% we would have made 1784 FTs. This is 1.48 points per game. Again, this is not at all insignificant but it's also not a super high leverage area for improvment.

Note I've just thought of one thing which is that in college better FT shooting actually leads to more attempts (because of 1/1s) but that effect is not going to be huge. Still the impact might be more like 1.5-1.6 ppg.
 

kapyoche

All-Conference
Sep 11, 2010
5,151
1,509
0
Why recruit players who can't make free throws?
Other team is going to foul them in close games and turn a win into a loss.
 

biazza38

Heisman
Nov 18, 2012
14,432
17,487
81
Why recruit players who can't make free throws?
Other team is going to foul them in close games and turn a win into a loss.
We did go 6-6 down the stretch against Purdue to close it out. Also nailed them against Illinois. I HIGHLY doubt any coach would look at any of players and say “meh, he’s not good at free throws. I don’t want him.” Imagine not recruiting Ron Harper because he’s an average free throw shooter
 

fluoxetine

Heisman
Nov 11, 2012
23,529
16,898
0
Why recruit players who can't make free throws?
Other team is going to foul them in close games and turn a win into a loss.

(a) Because they're good at other things.
(b) The difference between shooting 64% and 72% at the line is not so stark that there is some automatic endgame strategy to beat us.
 

Loyal_2RU

Heisman
Aug 6, 2001
15,236
11,052
113
Iowa largely stays in a zone, and overall their style of defense doesn't lend itself to as many fouls as our switching-man defense does. There were a ton of fouls that were "let go" by the refs on both sides, some very blatant - but that's the style of officiating we want, because it keeps Johnson on the floor.

End of day, we lost this game at the FT line. Shoot 66% from the line, and we aren't scrambling on a final possession. Blew more than a couple layups, too. Need to convert freebies - whether they're at the line or at the rim.
We lost this game with our two point shooting. FT were secondary at most.