The Wisconsin Badgers lead the nation in free-throw percentage, and it's not even all that close. They hold a staggering 85.53% at the line while the next closest is at 81.82% with UTSA, and they haven't even attempted 300 free throws while Wisconsin is sitting at 318. This isn't enough, though. Wisconsin must take advantage of their free throw shooting if it wants to see even more success.
Wisconsin leads the nation in free-throw percentage but is 95th in free-throw attempts.
The fact that Wisconsin has the best free-throwing shooting in the nation but is nearly 100th in free-throw attempts is not good. They must find a way to capitalize on their biggest strength and utilize it to win games. As any college basketball fan can tell you, free-throw shooting is vital to win tournament games. If a team can shoot well at the line, they can climb back into games with the clock stopped and close out games when the opponents are stopping the clock.
The discrepancy was magnified in the last game against Rutgers when they only shot six times from the line while Rutgers shot 13 times. The Scarlet Knights only made six of their 13, while the Badgers went 6-6 and only continued highlighting their magnificence at the charity stripe. Head coach Greg Gard knows this needs to be a point of emphasis and was frustrated his team only got to the line six times, "For us to only shoot six free-throws when we've been one of the top in the country, I don't know, I'll have to look through the tape to see if we really weren't fouled."
Wisconsin takes on the Minnesota Golden Gophers tomorrow night at 6 pm on Peacock. It is a game in which Gard will want to see more free throws and a game in which Wisconsin should run away with it if all goes according to plan.