Feb. 14, 2009
Lobo Basketball
Up Next: Lobos at BYU, Tuesday, Provo, Utah
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
There are at least two reasons that Lobo coach Steve Alford likes to see the wide-open 15-footer drop when his Lobos are standing at the free throw line. 1- It wins, or loses, games. 2- When Alford was a player at Indiana he probably could have shot 70 percent with his eyes closed. With his eyes open, he shot almost 90 percent.
“I’m sure it’s a sore point with him because I’m not sure he ever missed one,” said Lobo senior Tony Danridge.
The Lobos’ performance at the line has given Alford reason for concern a time or two this season. After the non-conference schedule, UNM was shooting 65 percent from the line and those numbers were factors in a few Lobo losses.
The Lobos straightened their shooting sights during Mountain West Conference play and were a very solid 76.2 percent going into Wednesday’s MWC encounter at Air Force. The Lobos took a minor step back in that road win going 23-of-36 for 63.9 percent. Not good. The Lobos were fortunate that they were playing the Falcons on this bad day at the line.
Still, the Lobos’ free-throw percentage heading toward Tuesday’s game at Brigham Young is .744. It was 81 percent in the five MWC games prior to UNM’s trip to Air Force. That’s an outstanding number. Alford said the reason for his Lobos’ improvement has little to do with technique and a whole lot to do with concentration and confidence.
“Concentration is the biggest thing that changed,” said the second-year Lobo coach. “We’re not spending any more time in practice on it, although some guys do come in on their own and shoot. I would give us coaches credit, if we were changing mechanics, but we don’t have guys with poor mechanics. The guys are just doing a good job in concentrating.”
Free throw shooting isn’t open-heart surgery. You get a balanced base at the line. You square up properly. You take unnecessary motion out of your shot. You follow the old S-N-S guideline (Straight Never Short). You find the proper rhythm and release and you do it over and over and over until you expect the shot to go it. If you miss, and your shot was Straight Not Short, the miss was a fluke. You believe.
“If you step to the line and don’t think you’re going to make it, you probably won’t,” said Daniel Faris, UNM’s senior center. “In fact, it probably will be an ugly miss. It’s such a mental thing. I lost my confidence a bit, but now I’m feeling comfortable at the line. Repetition and concentration have helped me by creating confidence.”
Said Alford: “If you keep going to the line and missing, pretty soon you don’t want to go to the line. But once you start having success, it breeds confidence.”
A huge key for UNM in conference play is that several key Lobos have improved their percentage at the line from pre-conference play, including Danridge, Faris, Chad Toppert, Roman Martinez, and Dairese Gary. Those are five of the top six Lobos in points scored and minutes played. It’s important those Lobos knock down the free shots.
“With so many good shooters on this team, there was no excuse for the way we were shooting them earlier in the year,” said Faris. “I think part of the improvement came from coach challenging us to get better and understand the how important they are.”
Said Danridge: “It seems we always shot great in practice. But we didn’t seem to carry that concentration over into games. You can’t just throw it up there and sometimes that’s how it looked.”
One thing is certain about UNM practice sessions. The Lobos have a coach who knows the proper mechanics and the proper mental approach to making free shots. Alford’s career percentage of .897 is one of the best marks in NCAA histroy. As a player, Alford had the stroke and the work ethic to be great.
“I was different,” said Alford. “I would wake up wanting to shoot free throws and I’d fall asleep thinking about shooting free throws. I shot more than 100 a day and I even charted my shots. I learned the importance of the foul shot because I knew I wasn’t going to be playing above the rim, so I had to make people fearful of fouling me.”
That should be the Lobos’ goal the rest of the way in. Make teams fearful of fouling Lobos. And when they do foul a Lobo, make ’em pay.
Editor’s Note: Richard Stevens is a former Associate Sports Editor and sports columnist for The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net. Previous articles are available at The Richard Stevens Corner