AT COURTSIDE: Free throws are more than just free chances

The entire weekend was marred by sloppy play, due in no small part to poor foul shooting. ITHACA, N.Y. -- At the very beginning of the 1997 portion of this season, Rick Barnes, the head coach of the Clemson men's basketball squad, held practice as usual. Only it wasn't practice as usual. Instead, Barnes had his Tigers shoot free throws the entire session. In the 1996 half of the season, Clemson bucketed 67 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe. Thus far in 1997, Barnes's kids have shot a stellar 78 percent. And even if those numbers translate into only an extra 2.5 points per game, Barnes's point is clear -- free throws are a crucial aspect of the game. After this Ivy weekend, nothing could ring truer in the Quakers' ears. For that matter, the same free-throw dilemma has followed the Quakers year after year. With Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen leading the Quakers in the 1994-95, free throws were a mild problem. The Quakers missed seven shots from the stripe in the opening three-point loss to Canisius, but bucketing 12-of-14 in Ann Arbor sure proved helpful in beating Michigan by a two-point margin. In 1995-96 free throws were a glaring problem -- co-captain Tim Krug made only 46 percent of his foul shots. And nothing was more memorable than Ira Bowman missing the front end of a one-and-one to end the game in the 54-53 loss to Dartmouth. But missing free throws is part of the game -- that's why they shoot them. The real problem is the fact that missed free throws are like a disease. "It's definitely contagious," Penn forward Jed Ryan said. "Free throw shooting is a contagious thing. From now on if we can step it up and make all of our free throws, we'll be better off." While Ryan's comments appear to make the obvious obvious, the forward alluded to the fact that missed free throws translate to more missed free throws with team-wide psychological factors to compound the problem. "When people start going to the line and missing free throws, everyone takes on a different attitude," Ryan said. "If we're making our free throws, passes are sharper, cuts are sharper. But as soon as we start missing free throws, that when we're having some problems playing." Friday night, the Quakers shot four-of-12 from the line in the first half and improved to an unacceptable 15-of-24 in the second. Although the team's field goal percentage did not indicate this problem, 16 turnovers and only four offensive rebounds certainly does. Saturday night's 61-53 loss to Cornell was a textbook example of the free-throw plague. Paul Romanczuk nailed the only two free throws of the first half. Those two free throws put the Quakers' lead at 10 only 7:35 into the game. The Red and Blue looked impressive with a well-rounded inside-outside offense. The second half was an abomination. The anatomy of this defeat began with only shooting 11-of-20 from the line. And just like Ryan said, the Quakers got sloppy with their passes and cuts. The result -- one second-half assist and 14 total turnovers. Based on what Penn coach Fran Dunphy said after Saturday's game, it seems that he believes free throws are a matter of scoring -- crucial only in tight games. "Free throws really hurt us," Dunphy said. "If we're going to win close games, we have to step to the line and make shots. I think what sometimes we miss, is that free throws at the 19-minute mark of the second half is just as critical as the three-minute mark." But that is certainly not the case, as Clemson has proven. Shooting 22-of-23 from the line helped in beating Duke 86-82. But shooting 71 percent was instrumental in the Tigers' 19-point win over South Carolina State.