Michigan Free Throw Shooting Snowflakes
2-0 is 2-0 but the free throw shooting is painful.
November 13th, 2021 at 10:25 PM ^
I’m hoping they were just playing down to the level of their competition.
November 13th, 2021 at 10:30 PM ^
It’s the second game of the season. Relax.
November 13th, 2021 at 10:39 PM ^
Eh, free throw shooting generally doesn't just drastically improve. With that said, if any team does it, I'll put my money on this one and that you are correct in that it's a decent FT shooting team and we just don't have enough data.
November 13th, 2021 at 10:54 PM ^
Last year Jones shot 86%, Eli 90%, Johns 80% and Hunter is and should improve his %, so it’ll all be fine.
November 14th, 2021 at 6:31 AM ^
I wonder if Hunter bulking up has effected his free throw touch. He was 0-3 against PV and had some bad ft attempts against Buffalo.
November 13th, 2021 at 10:34 PM ^
The FTs in the first two games have upset me more than anything else. I have to imagine it will improve throughout the season but damn it is some Shaq level stuff right now.
November 13th, 2021 at 10:34 PM ^
A bit of a sloppy win. Team seemed to lose focus and played with much less attention to detail in the second half. Assist to turnover ratio (20/13) was awful, the team had more turnovers than Prairie View (not good), and the poor free throw shooting (53%) is probably the main concern right now. Important to remember this is a young team with many new pieces in the rotation, they will get better in these areas.
On a positive note, I think we are starting to find out the answer to whether or not this team can shoot from distance. Brooks and Houstan seem like they can be the volume shooters with good efficiency that the team needs. If you can then get a handful of made threes from the rest of the team then you’re golden.
Also I’m curious to see where Michigan ranks in pace after a few more games into the season. Seems like they’re playing much faster after defensive rebounds. In one regard I really like that decision, DeVante Jones is a strong finisher (so far) and our players run the floor really well. However, this team is still very good at executing various ball screen actions in the half court and I want them to lean on that more. Plus, almost any possession which gets HD in the low block is a positive outcome for UM. Interesting tension in playstyle that I imagine Juwan will likely get the most out of.
November 13th, 2021 at 10:43 PM ^
This was never going to be a game to tell us anything about this team and be anything other than empty calories. Hunter might have micro-dosed for this game given how he played.
November 13th, 2021 at 10:49 PM ^
Between the poor ft shooting and the lack of care of the ball I had to switch the game the last 5 minutes between them and the pistons/raptors. It was tough to watch them struggle. I heard Martelli talking to Sam this week talking about Moussa and his poor ft shooting and how he was going to address it. Hopefully, they get it fixed. It is early though.
November 14th, 2021 at 6:22 AM ^
It was not pretty to watch but I did not realize Michigan had 20 turnovers to 13 assists. That is almost as ugly as 17/32 from the line.
November 13th, 2021 at 10:53 PM ^
This team is right where I figured it would be.
I saw us taking 1/2 the year to figure things out. I don't see this team winning the B1G regular season. I see us finishing 2nd or 3rd.
HOWEVER...
I see this being a team that builds and late in the year, it's the last team you want to play.
We win the B1G tournament en route to the Elite 8 with a legit shot at the Final 4.
November 13th, 2021 at 11:02 PM ^
If FT doesn’t improve it will cost us several games in the Big ten
I can see 2nd or 3rd, too many young players in key spots to finish higher
November 13th, 2021 at 10:58 PM ^
When more than 30% or so of Michigan's FGA's are threes they end up with a high number of turn overs,not sure why....FT's- HD and D.Jones were a combined 3-10,both will be at the line a lot.D.Jones is a much better at the line than he's shown so far.
November 13th, 2021 at 11:00 PM ^
Just checked box score
yikes
That isn’t going to get it done boys
November 13th, 2021 at 11:59 PM ^
For those thinking the FT woes will straighten out, don't be so sure. Basketball has a long history of poor FT shooters who never manage to improve. Mostly big men like Wilt, Shaq and Andre. But closer to home Xavier Simpson never really improved that much.
I am sure all of them practiced 100s of shots per day. Jones has a track record of being a good FT shooter and so I expect him wind up as an 80% FT shooter. But don't count on much more than you are seeing from Diabate and Dickinson.
November 14th, 2021 at 9:14 AM ^
Dickinson shot 73.9% last year, so actually yeah, we can count on more than what we are seeing now (45.5%).
November 14th, 2021 at 7:22 AM ^
Unfortunately, I think poor free throw shooting will cost them a game or two later in the year, probably in a very important situation against a B1G foe.
November 14th, 2021 at 9:48 AM ^
Oh boy, here we go again.
I expect Brooks and Jones to shoot FTs at an 80%+ clip...as they have throughout their careers -Houstan will likely as well. Dickinson, Johns and Bufkin will be in the 70s-likely Williams too...hmm, Bufkin could be an 80 percenter too. We will see with Diabate...my guess is that he will be in the 50s to 60s for a bit but will gradually improve as he gets more fully comfortable. Those are the 8 who are going to play a significant majority of the real-time minutes.