Jeremiah Box has been hearing it from the fans. Coach David Moe has his team spending an extra 20 minutes of practice this week shooting them.
Everyone wants to know: What’s the deal with the Hornets struggles from the free throw line?
“We are a good free throw shooting team,” Moe said. “They just haven’t made them in the games, but they’re all good free throw shooters. I don’t know why they don’t go in.”
It’s tough for anyone to come to a rational explanation for why the Hornets are struggling at the line, particularly in their last game conference game on Saturday against Missouri Western when they made only 8-of-18 from the line.
It’s not that Emporia State is a poor shooting team. Despite being last in the MIAA in free throw percentage at 61.5 percent, the Hornets have the third best field goal percentage and 3-point percentage. The teams above Emporia State in both categories — Southwest Baptist and Nebraska-Omaha — are also the top two teams from the line in the league.
So good shooting from the field usually leads to good shooting from the line, but that’s not the case with the Hornets.
Even some of their best shooters are struggling. Box, who has one of the smoothest shooting strokes on the team, is 50 percent from the line this year.
“Sometimes you think free throws are really easy, but they’re hard and they’re a key to winning the game,” Box said. “We’ve just got to practice them every day and step up and knock them down when they count.”
Lamar Wilbern had the chance to go to the line down the stretch against Western — the moment when they count the most — and Wilbern went 2-for-5 in the closing minutes and was 2-for-7 for the game. On the season, Wilbern has attempted a team-high 26 free throws and he’s made only 57.7 percent.
“I thought I was a pretty good free throw shooter, but I missed a few so I’ve been working on it,” Wilbern said. “But I’m not too worried about it. Everybody has games like that where nothing seems to fall. We’ve just got to step up and make them.”
The Hornets who have made them are the ones who are getting to the line less frequently. Dustin Andrews, Tim Niles and Doug Moore are all perfect from the line this season, but Andrews and Niles lead that group with five attempts apiece.
Of the six Hornets with more than 10 attempts, only Adam Holthaus is above 60 percent. Holthaus has made 13 of 15 free throws, good for 86.7 percent.
While the Hornets have struggled from the line, they rank near the top of the league in most categories and they’re off to a 7-1 start and 2-0 in the MIAA.
Entering tonight’s game against Central Missouri, the team picked to finish second in the conference, the difference in a close game could come down to free throw shooting.
And for Box, Wilbern and Robert Moores, the team’s leading scorers who usually have the ball in their hands down the stretch, they know they need to improve.
“The guards, we should be no less than 80 percent,” Wilbern said.