Jan. 24 in Morgantown, West Virginia, is a time and place TCU Basketball would not like to revisit.
TCU was 1-4 in Big 12 play and had suffered an overtime loss to Baylor one week earlier. Then, there was plenty of time to turn the season around.
What could have been a marquee win for head coach Trent Johnson and his program quickly turned into a bad dream, as TCU went 50 percent from the free throw line in both the final four minutes of regulation and in overtime. The nightmares at the line would haunt TCU the rest of the season.
The Horned Frogs played six games against NCAA Tournament teams that were decided by 10 points or less.
In those six games, TCU’s free throw percentage, with less than four minutes left to play, was 61 percent.
To give some perspective, the number one free throw shooting team in the country this past season was Illinois. They shot 79.4 percent on the season.
TCU ranked 342nd out of 345 in free throw percentage as they finished the season shooting 61.5 percent from the foul line.
It’s no secret that the Frogs had an abysmal year at the line. Johnson, a man who has been involved in college basketball since 1974, offered little on the subject in an interview via the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
“A lot of people want to give expert advice — I think it’s comical, because if there were any free-throw gurus out there with great advice, Shaquille O’Neal would shoot a pretty good percentage,” said Johnson. “All we do as coaches is we shoot them, put them in situations where they’re tired and fatigued, and we shoot them, make sure they concentrate — elbow up, follow through, all those things. But it is what it is.”
The lone bright spot at the free throw line was senior point guard, Kyan Anderson. Anderson went 120 of 138 from the line this season, which was good for 87 percent.
The next best free throw shooter on the team that saw regular game minutes was Trey Zeigler, who shot 62 percent on the year.
The Frogs’ struggles from the charity stripe weren’t due to a lack of a larger sample size, TCU was 12th in the country for free throw attempts.
Anderson attributed the struggles to the mental aspect of the game in an interview with the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
“It’s really just a confidence thing, stepping up and knocking them down,” said the senior point guard.
Regardless if it is a confidence issue or mechanical one, the Frogs would be well served to figure it out soon. TCU has a record of 6-48 in conference play since joining the Big 12.
That same West Virginia team made it to the Sweet Sixteen before getting bounced by No. 1 Kentucky in the men’s college basketball national tournament.
The next season marks a new chapter for TCU basketball. The men and women will have a new arena to call home and there won’t be a single player on the men’s team that experienced the Mountain West conference.
Maybe the nightmare will end for the Horned Frog men next year.
