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Nebraska Basketball: Thankfully, the program’s practicing free throws

By Danny Jaillet

COLLEGE PARK, MD - FEBRUARY 11: Head coach Fred Hoiberg of the Nebraska Cornhuskers looks on during a college basketball game against the Maryland Terrapins at the Xfinity Center on February 11, 2020 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - FEBRUARY 11: Head coach Fred Hoiberg of the Nebraska Cornhuskers looks on during a college basketball game against the Maryland Terrapins at the Xfinity Center on February 11, 2020 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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Free throws have been an Achilles’ heel for Nebraska basketball  all season.

This may be a very good thing for Nebraska basketball. The team is practicing their free throws. They certainly need to after an 8-for-30 conversion rate against Northwestern. It was truly awful to watch, it was frustrating to see. If you think about it this way, they left 30 points at the free throw line.

Head coach Fred Hoiberg and his staff are working with players to make sure that they continue to get better from the line. In particular, the Nebraska basketball big men seemed to struggle a bit. Hopefully, this is something that each player will get better at next year. For now, all they can do is continue to work hard and hopefully they find success.

This is not a problem that is just exclusive to Sunday. This has been a problem throughout the entire season. They have done a nice job of getting into the paint and getting to the line. The problem is, they just can’t seem to convert. With the type of players that they have, guards who drive to the rim, and big men who put the ball on the floor, they need to convert and make things happen. Other than that, they are just wasting opportunities at points.

The coaching staff of Nebraska basketball has implemented a system for practicing free throws. Hopefully, their hard work will begin to pay off in Thursday’s game against Michigan. As the season begins to wind down, Nebraska basketball needs to make every point count. In what may seem like a lost year, there is still the Big Ten tournament to go. Do I think that they will make it all the way? No. Nevertheless, a little bit of March basketball never hurt anybody.

"“Believe me, guys, we do work at it,” said Hoiberg, who was an excellent free-throw shooter as a player. “We work at it every day. We have punishment runs. I try to put pressure on them. Every drill we’ve had the last couple days we’ve had to finish it off with two free throws. And if you didn’t make it, we’re on the line running. So you try to do the best job you can. But once you get out there in that game atmosphere, it’s different. It is. It’s different than being here in a closed environment.”"

Looking at the statistics, Thor has the greatest conversion rate for a Nebraska basketball player with more than 20 starts. He is shooting at 73.5%. Again, that’s not a great number at all. Those should be free, easy gimmie points. Instead, it almost seems like a chore every time they go to the line.

Hopefully, Nebraska basketball will be able to fix things at the line for the future. They still have things to play for, and it starts on Thursday against Michigan. Hopefully, Nebraska basketball can at least put together a good effort. They have been trying hard all season. The results just have not been there.

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