FREE Throws

[HOFcoachRoy]

CB needs to work on nothing but FTs. It’s why they lost this game and will lose more. Pathetic performance at the line.

 

[Jriv23]

This is what we have being saying all year before the season started. We stated that when we play teams where the game is close, it is going to come down to FT shooting. This is unacceptable. If we do not fix this problem fast, we are going to lose more games just like this one. These are two that we lost at home in OT which is unacceptable. You have to win at home. We lost both games to two teams whose colors are red, and they both are loses at home. When we play the other team that wears red, the same result can happen if we do not get this FT shooting under control.

 

[tarboy]

If CB did not want missing FT's to become a thing It is too late. Our FT shooting costs us another game.

Stanford with all their young players can make them with their eyes closed, why can't we ?

Make Ft's and layups and we are really hard to beat. Cut out the stupid unforced turnovers and even better.

Hit the gym and practice FT's, layups and 3's.

Hit the film room and make it known stupid passes cost us games.

Learn to value the ball.

 

[AlWoodfor2]

CB needs to work on nothing but FTs. It’s why they lost this game and will lose more. Pathetic performance at the line.

Been said this last year. Shoot FT one and one and if make both, move to next person but if miss run suicides and right back to the person that missed the 1 and 1. Whatever they are doing now isn’t working.

 

[kjcooper]

No doubt it's an area that I do not believe CB and her staff knows how to address. It's a repeat almost every year since CB has been the coach. As someone said above she needs to devote more time with the players to improve in this area, if not it's going to be a season which they will finish in the middle of the pack in the ACC.

 

[Jriv23]

I do not think they are focusing on this this like they should. I also stated this problem last year and at the beginning of this season that I felt improvement needed to be made. There has to be someone / expert out there that they can bring in to help resolve this issue. What we do now is that what they are doing is not working to improve this area of need.

 

[PonsterM]

If they're not hitting free throws, then there's a problem with their off-season discipline, which is on the players and the S&C staff or whoever spends time with the players during the off-season. If players (especially guards) come into the preseason practices and can't hit free throws, then make them run so much that they never make that mistake again during subsequent off-seasons.

 

[kjcooper]

Could be technique, mental or just neglect on the players and coaches. Have never heard CB speak about this, unless I missed it.

 

[3ptthreat]

Been said this last year. Shoot FT one and one and if make both, move to next person but if miss run suicides and right back to the person that missed the 1 and 1. Whatever they are doing now isn’t working.

Yeah. Definitely ain’t working. Pretty sure Pat Summit would have taken a similar approach. Definitely know they ran and ran for getting out rebounded.

 

[kystroup]

it’s gotta be mental. We have too many talented shooters for it to be anything else.

 

[SherrillKB]

This is what we have being saying all year before the season started. We stated that when we play teams where the game is close, it is going to come down to FT shooting. This is unacceptable. If we do not fix this problem fast, we are going to lose more games just like this one. These are two that we lost at home in OT which is unacceptable. You have to win at home. We lost both games to two teams whose colors are red, and they both are loses at home. When we play the other team that wears red, the same result can happen if we do not get this FT shooting under control.

You are absolutely correct!!! If we don’t get it right with the free throw shooting!!! We want win the close games.

 

[Jriv23]

What really hurts is that we had this game. The players know they had this game. They were winning the whole time and then they get make their free throws down the stretch. I think it goes back to what we said earlier, having the right people in who we know can make their FT's late in the fourth quarter. This is what the announcers stated. This is a quick fix.

 

[kystroup]

Where we have ranked nationally in ft%:

342 - this year
309 - 2025
321 - 2024
267 - 2023
155 - 2022
101 - 2021

Last year I understood it because of personnel, though it shouldn’t have been that bad. It’s pretty inarguably a trend at this point and it’s pretty near impossible to be an elite program when you’re that poor from the line

 

[FormerGuru]

On the broadcast they said that Brooks is a 43% shooter from 3 and only 40 from the FT line??? Ive never heard of such a discrepancy.

FT 18-30 and lose in OT..yeesh

 

[floridatarheel]

rinse, wash, repeat. There simply is no focus on the details.

 

[Jriv23]

Stats do not lie. 18 out of 30 sums up how we lost this game. Ouch!

 

[KenbudUNC]

---

I'm pretty sure any coach who knows their team struggles with free throws is working on it constantly. The typical approach is running players until they're exhausted, then making them shoot—because that's when concentration really matters. Miss your free throws? More running.

During the season when practice time is tight, coaches usually make it incentive-based. Hit your free throws as a team and you skip the extra conditioning, or maybe get Chick-fil-A for dinner. But the target is set really high to push everyone. I remember one time my coach blasted opera music throughout the entire gym (which we absolutely hated) and wouldn't turn it off until we hit 90% as a team.

Free throw shooting takes serious mental toughness and repetition. It's rarely being ignored—it's just harder to fix than people realize.

 

[CarolinaSkies]

How many more seasons are we going to actually pretend that Courtney Banghart can coach? She can recruit but her sideline coaching isn't good. She continually loses games that she has no business losing. Today is just another example.

 

[1stGenerationHeel]

it’s gotta be mental. We have too many talented shooters for it to be anything else.

Do we though?

Who leads the team in free throw attempts? How many jump shots do they hit and at what percentage?

 

[3ptthreat]

---

I'm pretty sure any coach who knows their team struggles with free throws is working on it constantly. The typical approach is running players until they're exhausted, then making them shoot—because that's when concentration really matters. Miss your free throws? More running.

During the season when practice time is tight, coaches usually make it incentive-based. Hit your free throws as a team and you skip the extra conditioning, or maybe get Chick-fil-A for dinner. But the target is set really high to push everyone. I remember one time my coach blasted opera music throughout the entire gym (which we absolutely hated) and wouldn't turn it off until we hit 90% as a team.

Free throw shooting takes serious mental toughness and repetition. It's rarely being ignored—it's just harder to fix than people realize.

I would highly doubt that that is the approach the coaches are taking to FTs. Either way, at this point, you throw everything you’ve got at it and try something new. Anything new.

Or heck maybe just actually make it an issue and give it the focus it deserves. I’m not convinced we have done that.

Makes me think of the criticism some of the former men’s players had for the men’s practices last year. Said that the drills in practice didn’t come close to simulating live game action and situations. Have to imagine that might be a factor here.

 

[UNC76]

The problem is the person who shoots the most FTs for us is a career 53% shooter. She looked very uncomfortable at the line for her 4 FT attempts yesterday.

 

[tarboy]

We are not going to win close ACC games shooting 60% on FT's.

I said it before. Whatever we are doing try something different.

Try to get the player to relax and go to a happy place when on the line.

You can see they are feeling the pressure.

 

[6string]

in the warm ups before the games they form a line around the free throw lane and each person must make two fre throws before the next shooter steps up. yesterday I watched Toomey miss like five in a row with no game pressure.

 

[Jriv23]

I just listened to the post conference and CB pointed out two main reasons why they lost. These were FT's and Rebounding. Stanford out rebounded us by 12. I will say this, when she took NH out with about 3 minutes left to go in the game, that was when Stanford got 2 to 3 offensive rebounds in a row. Toomey was left by herself to try to get the rebounds against 3 of their bigs. When Toomey and Harris were in, Stanford did not get 2 or 3 offensive rebounds in a row. I do not know why CB took NH out the game during that crucial stretch in the game. At first, I thought maybe is was NH FT shooting, but when I looked back, NH FT shooting is around 70%. One of the guards should have been out. So that should have been on CB.

 

[AlWoodfor2]

Yeah. Definitely ain’t working. Pretty sure Pat Summit would have taken a similar approach. Definitely know they ran and ran for getting out rebounded.

And that running is not even the normal running at the end of practice that you usually do. They need to know that also.

 

[tarboy]

When we would do the FT drill years ago, we would do the two shots make or run and on the coaches call we would sometimes after some running a bit let the girls vote on a player to make 4 in a row to forgive further running for the day. It was good team building and you can bet it was a confidence builder for whoever the team thought was the best at making FT's under pressure. Miss and it was back to running.

 

[tarHeelBeliever]

I don't want to stir the pot, but if I can add: yes, you want to pull your hair out when FTs are missed, I mean, my gosh jaysus these are free points sitting out there, nobody in your face, just you and the basket. C'mon!

But there is another way to look at it. How many times have you seen a game where the outcome is decided by one final, decisive play -- a free throw miss or make, a turnover, a block, a 3-pt shot at the buzzer, whatever. Some coaches will say, 'the last play should never decide the outcome of the game' -- meaning, if we had performed well over the duration of the game, we would never have *been* in a position to be 100% dependent on a good outcome on the final play. Yes, there are exceptions, when really good teams play really good teams and it's tit-for-tat, basket-for-basket.

So, I don't know. I'm conflicted. Yes, make your freakin' free throws!!!! But I don't think you really want to put yourself into a position where it comes down to free throws to decide win or loss.

 

[TH123]

I don't want to stir the pot, but if I can add: yes, you want to pull your hair out when FTs are missed, I mean, my gosh jaysus these are free points sitting out there, nobody in your face, just you and the basket. C'mon!

But there is another way to look at it. How many times have you seen a game where the outcome is decided by one final, decisive play -- a free throw miss or make, a turnover, a block, a 3-pt shot at the buzzer, whatever. Some coaches will say, 'the last play should never decide the outcome of the game' -- meaning, if we had performed well over the duration of the game, we would never have *been* in a position to be 100% dependent on a good outcome on the final play. Yes, there are exceptions, when really good teams play really good teams and it's tit-for-tat, basket-for-basket.

So, I don't know. I'm conflicted. Yes, make your freakin' free throws!!!! But I don't think you really want to put yourself into a position where it comes down to free throws to decide win or loss.

Sure, but if you miss over 10 free throws? That’s not a simple case of a free throw deciding a game. That’s digging a hole you can’t get out of.

 

[uman1]

We have 2-3 players that drag the team FT%. Truly Bad FT shooters like IN the past 3 years, and AU the previous 5 years rarely get better despite putting in the work.

 

[Easy Game]

Some of it is mental, not believing you r a good ft shooter, lack of a focused process, etc. but some of it is physical. For example, NB literally shot puts the ball at the rim. These things can be improved if not totally fixed.

 

[tarHeelBeliever]

Sure, but if you miss over 10 free throws? That’s not a simple case of a free throw deciding a game. That’s digging a hole you can’t get out of.

Good point, good point. Miss just 2 FTs per quarter, there goes 8 points that can be the difference maker.

As a coach I think you don't ever want the outcome of a game to come down to the final play (true: wouldn't make network ratings people happy and yes it would be far less exciting for the fans). But for the coach it must feel like rolling the dice. A foul that gets called or doesn't get called, a missed/made FT, etc.

 

[tarboy]

Making FT's as a team depends a lot on who gets sent to the line.

If you were lucky and only Lanie, Reniya and Elina went to the line we are probably going to win the game.

Indya and Nyla B go to the line not much chance, However I seriously believe Nyla Brooks will one day soon
be a very good FT shooter. She got off to a bad start this season and I think it got to her head. She just needs to relax and find the groove. Good shooters from outside should make FT's. I also have faith Taliyah Henderson will be a good FT shooter and a great player.

 

[tarHeelBeliever]

I went back and looked at all of the games CB has coached where we lost by 5 points or less. And then I looked at the FT numbers for each team:

20191228 Yale Bulldogs at North Carolina Tar Heels: Final Score: 63-66
20191228 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 13-18
20191228 Yale Bulldogs FT-FTA: 13-20

20200223 North Carolina Tar Heels at Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Final Score: 82-79
20200223 Wake Forest Demon Deacons FT-FTA: 16-24
20200223 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 21-26

20201210 North Carolina Tar Heels at Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Final Score: 57-54
20201210 Wake Forest Demon Deacons FT-FTA: 13-16
20201210 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 6-9

20201214 North Carolina Tar Heels at Miami Hurricanes: Final Score: 67-63
20201214 Miami Hurricanes FT-FTA: 16-28
20201214 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 10-22

20210131 North Carolina Tar Heels at Virginia Tech Hokies: Final Score: 73-69
20210131 Virginia Tech Hokies FT-FTA: 15-18
20210131 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 13-16

20220116 North Carolina Tar Heels at Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Final Score: 70-65
20220116 Notre Dame Fighting Irish FT-FTA: 17-24
20220116 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 7-8

20220213 North Carolina Tar Heels at Virginia Tech Hokies: Final Score: 66-61
20220213 Virginia Tech Hokies FT-FTA: 9-11
20220213 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 12-13

20230320 North Carolina Tar Heels at Ohio State Buckeyes: Final Score: 71-69
20230320 Ohio State Buckeyes FT-FTA: 16-23
20230320 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 10-12

20230101 North Carolina Tar Heels at Virginia Tech Hokies: Final Score: 68-65
20230101 Virginia Tech Hokies FT-FTA: 14-16
20230101 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 8-10

20230105 North Carolina Tar Heels at Miami Hurricanes: Final Score: 62-58
20230105 Miami Hurricanes FT-FTA: 12-16
20230105 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 8-13

20230223 Virginia Tech Hokies at North Carolina Tar Heels: Final Score: 59-61
20230223 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 5-10
20230223 Virginia Tech Hokies FT-FTA: 7-10

20230303 North Carolina Tar Heels at Duke Blue Devils: Final Score: 44-40
20230303 Duke Blue Devils FT-FTA: 8-14
20230303 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 5-10

20231126 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles at North Carolina Tar Heels: Final Score: 64-65
20231126 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 20-29
20231126 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles FT-FTA: 10-13

20240201 North Carolina Tar Heels at NC State Wolfpack: Final Score: 63-59
20240201 NC State Wolfpack FT-FTA: 12-16
20240201 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 5-5

20240229 North Carolina Tar Heels at Boston College Eagles: Final Score: 78-74
20240229 Boston College Eagles FT-FTA: 20-26
20240229 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 17-21

20240307 Miami Hurricanes at North Carolina Tar Heels: Final Score: 59-60
20240307 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 14-21
20240307 Miami Hurricanes FT-FTA: 12-19

20250126 Florida State Seminoles at North Carolina Tar Heels: Final Score: 84-86
20250126 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 14-17
20250126 Florida State Seminoles FT-FTA: 15-16

20250302 Virginia Cavaliers at North Carolina Tar Heels: Final Score: 75-78
20250302 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 11-13
20250302 Virginia Cavaliers FT-FTA: 11-14

If you add in the Stanford game from this season (we lost by 6): Stanford shot 15-18 FT, we shot 18-30 FT.

 

[tarboy]

Very interesting, good work, thanks !

 

[kjcooper]

Great job, appreciate you hard work and diligence.

 

[tarHeelBeliever]

To look at the flip side of this: I looked at all games under CB where we won by 5 points or less, and looked at the FT numbers.

20201220 Wake Forest at UNC: Final Score: 77-74
20201220 UNC FT-FTA: 22-31
20201220 Wake Forest FT-FTA: 10-16

20210124 Notre Dame at UNC: Final Score: 78-73
20210124 UNC FT-FTA: 10-18
20210124 Notre Dame FT-FTA: 14-17

20210228 UNC at Virginia Tech : Final Score: 63-68
20210228 Virginia Tech FT-FTA: 8-12
20210228 UNC FT-FTA: 8-11

20211219 UNC at Boston College : Final Score: 73-76
20211219 Boston College FT-FTA: 10-13
20211219 UNC FT-FTA: 25-30

20220217 Louisville at UNC: Final Score: 66-65
20220217 UNC FT-FTA: 15-20
20220217 Louisville FT-FTA: 7-11

20230318 St. John's at UNC: Final Score: 61-59
20230318 UNC FT-FTA: 7-8
20230318 St. John's FT-FTA: 17-22

20230119 Duke at UNC: Final Score: 61-56
20230119 UNC FT-FTA: 15-19
20230119 Duke FT-FTA: 12-18

20230226 UNC at Duke : Final Score: 41-45
20230226 Duke FT-FTA: 5-6
20230226 UNC FT-FTA: 12-15

20240322 Michigan State at UNC: Final Score: 59-56
20240322 UNC FT-FTA: 8-18
20240322 Michigan State FT-FTA: 11-14

20231112 Davidson at UNC: Final Score: 74-70
20231112 UNC FT-FTA: 17-26
20231112 Davidson FT-FTA: 12-15

20231124 Vermont at UNC: Final Score: 54-51
20231124 UNC FT-FTA: 12-26
20231124 Vermont FT-FTA: 7-9

20240107 UNC at Notre Dame : Final Score: 57-61
20240107 Notre Dame FT-FTA: 14-21
20240107 UNC FT-FTA: 9-19

20240118 UNC at Georgia Tech : Final Score: 68-73
20240118 Georgia Tech FT-FTA: 11-15
20240118 UNC FT-FTA: 16-19

20240125 Miami at UNC: Final Score: 66-61
20240125 UNC FT-FTA: 12-18
20240125 Miami FT-FTA: 7-10

20240303 Duke at UNC: Final Score: 63-59
20240303 UNC FT-FTA: 6-13
20240303 Duke FT-FTA: 7-9

20250202 UNC at Stanford : Final Score: 67-69
20250202 Stanford FT-FTA: 18-19
20250202 UNC FT-FTA: 2-4

20250209 UNC at Clemson : Final Score: 51-53
20250209 Clemson FT-FTA: 11-14
20250209 UNC FT-FTA: 10-14

20250213 Virginia Tech at UNC: Final Score: 67-62
20250213 UNC FT-FTA: 11-16
20250213 Virginia Tech FT-FTA: 8-9

20250216 NC State at UNC: Final Score: 66-65
20250216 UNC FT-FTA: 10-16
20250216 NC State FT-FTA: 5-13

20250223 UNC at Louisville : Final Score: 75-79
20250223 Louisville FT-FTA: 21-26
20250223 UNC FT-FTA: 13-16

20250307 UNC at Florida State : Final Score: 56-60
20250307 Florida State FT-FTA: 12-17
20250307 UNC FT-FTA: 7-12


To me, the moral of the story is, with FTs, sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.

 

[Jriv23]

Things for all the hard work. We knew FT's is an issue for this team this year and last year; especially when you are playing tough teams. If CB and Staff do not find a way to fix this, it is going to be a long day.

 

[3397char]

I went back and looked at all of the games CB has coached where we lost by 5 points or less. And then I looked at the FT numbers for each team:

20191228 Yale Bulldogs at North Carolina Tar Heels: Final Score: 63-66
20191228 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 13-18
20191228 Yale Bulldogs FT-FTA: 13-20

20200223 North Carolina Tar Heels at Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Final Score: 82-79
20200223 Wake Forest Demon Deacons FT-FTA: 16-24
20200223 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 21-26

20201210 North Carolina Tar Heels at Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Final Score: 57-54
20201210 Wake Forest Demon Deacons FT-FTA: 13-16
20201210 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 6-9

20201214 North Carolina Tar Heels at Miami Hurricanes: Final Score: 67-63
20201214 Miami Hurricanes FT-FTA: 16-28
20201214 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 10-22

20210131 North Carolina Tar Heels at Virginia Tech Hokies: Final Score: 73-69
20210131 Virginia Tech Hokies FT-FTA: 15-18
20210131 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 13-16

20220116 North Carolina Tar Heels at Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Final Score: 70-65
20220116 Notre Dame Fighting Irish FT-FTA: 17-24
20220116 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 7-8

20220213 North Carolina Tar Heels at Virginia Tech Hokies: Final Score: 66-61
20220213 Virginia Tech Hokies FT-FTA: 9-11
20220213 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 12-13

20230320 North Carolina Tar Heels at Ohio State Buckeyes: Final Score: 71-69
20230320 Ohio State Buckeyes FT-FTA: 16-23
20230320 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 10-12

20230101 North Carolina Tar Heels at Virginia Tech Hokies: Final Score: 68-65
20230101 Virginia Tech Hokies FT-FTA: 14-16
20230101 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 8-10

20230105 North Carolina Tar Heels at Miami Hurricanes: Final Score: 62-58
20230105 Miami Hurricanes FT-FTA: 12-16
20230105 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 8-13

20230223 Virginia Tech Hokies at North Carolina Tar Heels: Final Score: 59-61
20230223 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 5-10
20230223 Virginia Tech Hokies FT-FTA: 7-10

20230303 North Carolina Tar Heels at Duke Blue Devils: Final Score: 44-40
20230303 Duke Blue Devils FT-FTA: 8-14
20230303 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 5-10

20231126 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles at North Carolina Tar Heels: Final Score: 64-65
20231126 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 20-29
20231126 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles FT-FTA: 10-13

20240201 North Carolina Tar Heels at NC State Wolfpack: Final Score: 63-59
20240201 NC State Wolfpack FT-FTA: 12-16
20240201 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 5-5

20240229 North Carolina Tar Heels at Boston College Eagles: Final Score: 78-74
20240229 Boston College Eagles FT-FTA: 20-26
20240229 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 17-21

20240307 Miami Hurricanes at North Carolina Tar Heels: Final Score: 59-60
20240307 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 14-21
20240307 Miami Hurricanes FT-FTA: 12-19

20250126 Florida State Seminoles at North Carolina Tar Heels: Final Score: 84-86
20250126 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 14-17
20250126 Florida State Seminoles FT-FTA: 15-16

20250302 Virginia Cavaliers at North Carolina Tar Heels: Final Score: 75-78
20250302 North Carolina Tar Heels FT-FTA: 11-13
20250302 Virginia Cavaliers FT-FTA: 11-14

If you add in the Stanford game from this season (we lost by 6): Stanford shot 15-18 FT, we shot 18-30 FT.

probably should also include the games we won by 5 points or less for a fuller picture; there are probably more games where FT shooting came through for us there.


but in the losses alone I do not see too many where we both shot below a reasonable average (let’s say 70%?) and that delta from reasonable fully accounts for the margin of loss. In fact there are more games here where good FT shooting kept us closer.

3 maybe 4 games in 6 years where FT shooting was a factor in the loss? That should be expected to occur at that rate just on random variance, statistically.

I am not saying that UNC is a good FT shooting team. And it absolutely did rear its head twice this year. But that is more of an anomaly than a hallmark of the CB era.

 

[tarboy]

We have lots of good shooters. That should show up at the FT line.

 

[Jriv23]

As I stated before, making FTs is all mental. This is what the article I just read by Byrum stated. They must continue to make them especially when the competition stiffens. Go Heels!