One Stat That Tells the Story in WVU's Wins + Losses
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It feels like every game in the Big 12 Conference comes down to the last four minutes. Who plays better defense? Who stays out of foul trouble? And most importantly, who can hit free throws?
Free throws are a big reason why West Virginia is sitting at 2-6 in league play. Even head coach Bob Huggins has mentioned that had they just shot better from the line in a few of those games, their record would look a whole lot different right now. Particularly in the losses to Kansas State (20/38), Oklahoma State (17/28), and Oklahoma (8/16), the line killed the Mountaineers. Although percentage-wise it doesn't look that bad in the losses to Texas and Baylor, they missed free throws at critical junctures of the game.
In those six conference losses, West Virginia is just 100/161 (62%) from the line. In their two wins? They're 48/61 (78%).
When completely healthy, the Mountaineers can really spread people out and be an explosive offense. We saw it earlier in the season during non-conference play when they averaged over 80 points per game. If they can get back to that level of efficiency and start making their freebies at the charity stripe, they'll skyrocket up the Big 12 standings.
West Virginia gets to the line more than anyone in the conference at 24.2 free throw attempts per game, which also ranks 11th in the country. The opportunities are there even when they have an off night shooting the ball. It's not all on one guy but it would do wonders for WVU if Jimmy Bell Jr. can increase his numbers, who is 45/77 (58.4%) on the season. The good news is Bell is 11/15 in his last four games, so if that trend continues he could be the difference in WVU getting a couple of extra wins in the bucket.
Only Kedrian Johnson, an 81% free throw shooter, gets to the line more than Bell.
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