Syracuse Currently Has A Critical Weakness

A look at team free throw shooting shared here earlier this season revealed remarkable across-the-board efficiency, with virtually every ACC squad converting at least 70 percent of its foul shots for several years now. This proclivity included 17 of 18 league teams in 2025, the exception being 17-17 Georgia Tech at .687 on 627 free throws, 18.44 attempted per game.

The outlook is a bit different this season.

Advertisement

The Jackets are among five ACC clubs hitting less than 70 percent of their free throws through mid-December, along with BC (.698), Virginia (.692), Miami (.654), and Syracuse at a crippling .568 conversion rate. There’s plenty of time to boost those percentages, but the longer they linger below a respectable conversion rate the tougher it will be to accumulate victories or build a postseason resume.

The Yellow Jackets, for instance, attempted just shy of 21 foul shots per outing in their first 10 games. They won six of those contests, hitting at a .641 clip that earned a measly 13.4 free throws a game. None of their losses was close enough to be decided by a foul shot or two.

The Jackets’ greatest strength to date is their defense — second to Duke in defending threes and fifth in the ACC in overall suppression of opposing shooters. But their anemic free throw production is a drag on a scoring margin that’s 16th in the league.

UVa wasn’t always artful at the line under retired coach Tony Bennett, but managed to remain a national power through many of his years at Charlottesville. The current Cavalier squad, directed by Ryan Odom, was 9-1 through its first 10 games and tied for 23rd with Florida in the Dec. 15 Associated Press poll. They got to the line an average of 25 times per game, earning 19.9 points a contest with those attempts. That was right there with Duke, which got 21.02 percent of its scoring via foul shots after going 17-23 in a win over Lipscomb.

Advertisement

SMU, another 9-1 starter, leads the ACC with .779 free throw shooting, earning…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/syracuse-currently-critical-weakness-140000376.html

Author :

Publish date : 2025-12-18 14:00:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.