Okay, so Terp basketball coach Gary Williams didn’t specifically direct this advice to intramural players, but with sign ups here at the university for intramural basketball taking place today, I thought it was a helpful tip.
Just stay with me here.
One of the numbers that immediately jumps out of the box score from the Terps’ 88-64 drubbing of N.C. State at Comcast Center last night is the free throw disparity.
The Terps went to the charity stripe 33 times, while the Wolfpack earned just 16. Much of that difference came in the first half when the Terps won the free throw battle, 16-2.
By hitting 24 of 33 attempts (72.7 percent), the Terps did shoot better than their season average. And they are now 10-3 when making more free throws than their opponent.
But more than anything, for the Terps to go toe-to-toe inside with a big man like Tracy Smith and really win the slugfest with more total rebounds, second chance points and free throws was as impressive an accomplishment as earning 14 more points than the Wolfpack at the line.
(And remember, because the Terps made sure the game’s outcome was not in doubt down the stretch, the Wolfpack weren’t putting the Terps on the line in the game’s final few minutes. They earned those free throws–with the possible exception of Eric Hayes getting fouled 92 feet from his basket at the end of the first half.)
So, naturally, after the game, I asked coach Gary Williams what he saw in the offense that caused that disparity.
Williams offered a pretty thoughtful response. There’s nothing particularly quotable in there, so I thought I’d just include the whole answer because it’s pretty interesting and maybe helpful.
The first part is pretty much common sense. Aggressive teams are going to get more free throws. A littler guy like Sean Mosley banging with the big boys is going to get hacked quite often.
The second part was interesting to me. If you’re an intramural basketball wanna-be like me, you can take something out of it. (Especially with some of the referees you’ll run across in the Reckord Armory.) The point is to be strong with the ball around the rim and the referees have to take notice to the guy who’s hanging on you.
Here’s the answer/advice from a man who had just coached his 1,000 career NCAA basketball game:
“You have to be aggressive to get to the free throw line. In other words, if you shoot all jump shots, you’re not going to get fouled and you don’t get to the line. A lot of times if you can get a second shot, that’s where you get fouled. Many times on a long rebound for a second shot, if you get it and drive it, the defense is out of position because they were all rebounding and you get fouled in those situations. When you have somebody like Sean or Landon that is strong–and Greivis is a little stronger than he looks– when they take it to the basket part of getting fouled is making sure that the referee can see that you’re fouled. In other words, if you can hold onto the ball when that guy hits you, that guy hangs on you a little bit and it’s pretty obvious you got fouled.”
You can thank me or Gary when you start putting up Sean Mosley-type numbers in your Intramural Co-ed B League basketball game.
Go ahead and force that ref to blow his or her whistle.
Eric Detweiler is The Diamondback’s Terrapin Men’s Basketball Team beat writer. He can be reached at edetweilerdbk@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/edetweiler.