Free throw shooting can be a team’s best friend or its worst enemy.

For the Massachusetts men’s basketball team, it’s been a mixture of both recently. In its wins, conversions from the stripe late in games have helped seal victories, but in its losses, it’s no secret the Minutemen have struggled mightily at the line.

In Wednesday night’s loss at Rhode Island, UMass went a dismal 15-for-25 from the line, and continuously squandered opportunities to capitalize on momentum that could have increased leads throughout the second half with its consistent misses.

“You just can’t give points away on the road,” said UMass coach Derek Kellogg following the game. “We probably win by four or five going away if we make free throws, and it seemed like [URI] made [its] free throws and got to the free throw line quite frequently.”

Given its foul line deficiencies, however, the Minutemen do have someone to rely on at the stripe in point guard Chaz Williams.

Williams has gone 98-for-124 (79 percent) at the line, and has been the team’s go-to man in pressure situations late in games. UMass consistently and predictably puts the ball in his hands in crunch-time situations, where he seals the game with his clutch free throw makes.

But after Williams, it’s rare to find a consistent free throw shooter on the roster.

Guards Jesse Morgan and Javorn Farrell are 77.5 percent and 71.4 percent free throw shooters, respectively, but don’t get to the line often, as they have combined for just 82 of the Minutemen’s 465 attempts this season.

Raphiael Putney, the team’s second leading scorer, has shot from the line just 23 times this season, and hasn’t made the most of his rare opportunities when he gets there, averaging just 56.5 percent for the season.

As of Thursday, UMass is tied with Utah Valley State, SUNY-Buffalo and Northern Arizona for 222nd in the nation in free throw percentage at 67.3 percent.
Turnover margin dwindling

When Kellogg installed a run-and-press system for the Minutemen this season, forcing a lot of turnovers was expected.

One thing possible not on Kellogg’s mind, however, was the amount of turnovers his team would wind up committing this season. After all, playing such an up-tempo style will make a team more prone to turning the ball over.

For the season, UMass ranks seventh in the country in steals per game with almost 9.5, but more alarming than that figure are the 353 turnovers it has committed, which is tied with Texas-Arlington for 317th (out of 344 teams) in the country.

And maybe even more alarming than that number could be the fact that Williams has the most turnovers on the team with 83. He gave the ball up nine times in the Minutemen’s loss to URI on Wednesday night, including a turnover in traffic with four seconds to play in overtime on a drive that could have won the game for UMass.

Stephen Hewitt can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Hewitt.