For as long as Jim Boeheim can remember, each Syracuse practice has ended the same way.

Free throws. In Manley Field House, the Carrier Dome or the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center, the players have lined up in a row on the baseline while one player shoots.

Two shots. You make one, and there’s no running. You miss one, and the sprint to the other end of the court and back begins.

‘We’ve probably been doing that for the last 20 years,’ SU head coach Boeheim said.

At least part of the reason Boeheim implemented the free-throw shooting at the end of a long hour and a half practice is the effect it seems to have on the Orange’s recent performance from the line late in games.

Statistically, Syracuse is the worst free-throw shooting team in the Big East at just 65.7 percent. But in the last five minutes and overtime of games this season, the Orange is shooting a cool 70 percent from the line.

‘The big key,’ Boeheim said, ‘is we’ve made key foul shots all year long.’

That’s almost a full 10 percentage points behind Villanova, who leads the conference at 75.6 percent. But to Boeheim, free-throw statistics are misleading.

‘The thing that’s deceptive about free-throw shooting is that it’s maybe five or six total foul shots that separate you from seventh or eighth place,’ Boeheim said. ‘It’s such a small percentage. Over 17 games, that’s maybe five foul shots.’

And the prime example Boeheim points at to support his theory is what happened in one game: Syracuse’s 69-64 win over Villanova on Feb. 21.

The Wildcats, the aforementioned best shooting team from the line in the Big East, went just 17-of-27 from the line. Guard Corey Stokes, who is sixth in the nation shooting 90.6 percent on the season, made five of his eight attempts on the night.

Meanwhile, SU shot 13-of-17 from the line on the night. And when it mattered most, the Orange calmly sank its shots.

‘When we’ve had to make free throws, we’ve made them,’ Boeheim said. ‘We’ve made very clutch free throws. That’s the key, really, I think.

‘Villanova leads the league in free-throw shooting. They missed two key free throws. And we made two key free throws.’

Trailing by one and three late, Villanova’s James Bell missed three consecutive free throws. On the other end, his team up 65-64, Dion Waiters sunk two after being knocked to the ground on a hard foul. And Rick Jackson sealed the win with a pair to provide the Orange’s final margin of victory, banking in the latter.

‘I was surprised,’ said Carl Arrigale, Jackson’s high school coach at Neumann-Goretti (Pa.), who was at the game. ‘He’s been shooting 1-of-2 for about eight years now.’

The late-game clutch shooting from the line has become a developing trend that has helped foster SU’s four-game winning streak heading into its final regular-season game against DePaul on Saturday (4 p.m., Big East Network).

Against Rutgers, Syracuse made 34 of its 47 attempts from the line, but the biggest ones came in the form of Jackson’s tying free throw that sent the game to overtime and the nine made in the overtime session.

And in Syracuse’s 58-51 win over Georgetown on Saturday, free throws closed the game out as SU made stops on the defensive end. No one was more important to that stretch than Brandon Triche, who made six free throws in the last four minutes — and four in the final 23 seconds. Triche stepped up from the line despite a 1-for-7 shooting night overall.

‘I just try to be relaxed,’ Triche said in the SU locker room after the win. ‘I’m usually a cool, calm guy. So I just try to be relaxed and not be shaky. I know if I make the first one, the second one’s going to go in.’

At one practice last week, Triche did just that. He made both, probably expected considering his streak of 27 consecutive made free throws in games. It was Jackson, the notorious ‘one out of two’ free-throw shooter, who was the first to send his team running.

There was a collective sigh, some sprinting, some jogging and some backpedaling up and down the court. But there hasn’t been much sighing or similar emotion in games recently. And to Triche, it all comes back to those 10 minutes in practice.

‘I try to treat every free throw like it’s in the game,’ Triche said. ‘Like you need them. Free throws are the easy points that can help the team out.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

 

Published on March 1, 2011 at 12:00 pm