Gophers rank 350th in the country in free-throw shooting
It's not totally clear how many bricks are on the outside of Williams Arena, but this year's men's basketball team could build a brand new stadium with the number of bricks they're throwing up on free-throw attempts this season.
There are 352 Division I teams in the country.
The Gophers rank 350th in free-throw shooting percentage, coming in at an ugly 55.9%. If you're curious, there are 352 Division I teams in the nation. McNeese State is worst in the country at 54.2% and Brown is second worst at 55.7%, just barely better than Minnesota.
The Gophers have shot 177 free throws and only 99 have gone in, including 15 of 24 in their 90-75 loss to Michigan Thursday night, which actually helped them move up from 351 to 350th in the country.
McNeese State plays in the Southland Conference and Brown University is an Ivy League school, so not exactly a Power Five team like the Gophers in the Big Ten.
The next worst free-throw shooting team from a Power Five conference is Mississippi State at 62.2% from the charity stripe. As fate would have it, the Gophers host Mississippi State at Williams Arena on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
Unlike the Gophers, who are 4-5 this season, Mississippi State is ranked 23rd in the country and is a perfect 8-0.
Here are Minnesota's player-by-player free-throw percentages.
- Jamison Battle: 77.8%
- Jaden Henley: 68.8%
- Dawson Garcia: 64.5%
- Treyton Thompson: 60%
- Braedon Carrington: 58.8%
- Joshua Ola-Joseph: 52.6%
- Ta'lon Cooper: 51.2%
- Pharrel Payne: 44.4%
- Taurus Samuels: 42.9%
- Will Ramburg: 40%
Cooper and Payne are really weighing down the team percentage because they've combined to take 68 of Minnesota's 177 free throws. That's 38% of the freebies and their combined 35 misses account for about 45% of the team's 78 misses.
