A few conference-only stats jumped out at me this morning:
Free Throws: While no one is going to accuse us of being automatic at the line, we have improved our percentage considerably. In conference, we are shooting 71%, which is good for 10th in the conference. (Syracuse leads the league with an impressive 77% average.) For the entire season, we are still at 67%, so that is a notable improvement.
Field Goal Defense: ACC teams are shooting 48.6% percent against us, and we are just ahead of last place NC State at 48.8%. That's troubling, and it's keeping teams like ND and BC in games that we won but should have won more comfortably. I wish I had the data to support it, but in watching games, it seems like our inability to defend in half-court sets is particularly concerning. (Our 3-point defense certainly isn't great at 37.5%, good for 10th in the ACC, but it is isn't the sole reason for our problems. Neither is our fast break defense.) While our great offensive showing against UNC was wonderful to see, it masks some real defensive problems that we have and will need to solve to make some noise in the ACC and NCAA tourneys. To highlight the point, our last 3 opponents were all above 50%, and our last 8 (since Pitt on 1-31) were all above 45% -- in many cases, well above that number. Losing Brown hurts us, but there are some interior problems as well.
Free Throw Defense: Yes, as strange as it is, the ACC tracks the opponent's free throw percentage. Surprisingly, there is a large variation among teams. BC's opponents shoot the highest percentage, at 79%, and we are second best at 68.5%! I don't know what to attribute that to -- probably a lot of luck, combined with the character of the teams that we have played -- but we will take it. While you might think that venue and home-team crowds might play a role, it seems to be of minimal importance. For example, while UNC has the lowest opponent FT percentage, Duke and Syracuse (notoriously difficult places to play) have among the highest.
Go Canes!
Free Throws: While no one is going to accuse us of being automatic at the line, we have improved our percentage considerably. In conference, we are shooting 71%, which is good for 10th in the conference. (Syracuse leads the league with an impressive 77% average.) For the entire season, we are still at 67%, so that is a notable improvement.
Field Goal Defense: ACC teams are shooting 48.6% percent against us, and we are just ahead of last place NC State at 48.8%. That's troubling, and it's keeping teams like ND and BC in games that we won but should have won more comfortably. I wish I had the data to support it, but in watching games, it seems like our inability to defend in half-court sets is particularly concerning. (Our 3-point defense certainly isn't great at 37.5%, good for 10th in the ACC, but it is isn't the sole reason for our problems. Neither is our fast break defense.) While our great offensive showing against UNC was wonderful to see, it masks some real defensive problems that we have and will need to solve to make some noise in the ACC and NCAA tourneys. To highlight the point, our last 3 opponents were all above 50%, and our last 8 (since Pitt on 1-31) were all above 45% -- in many cases, well above that number. Losing Brown hurts us, but there are some interior problems as well.
Free Throw Defense: Yes, as strange as it is, the ACC tracks the opponent's free throw percentage. Surprisingly, there is a large variation among teams. BC's opponents shoot the highest percentage, at 79%, and we are second best at 68.5%! I don't know what to attribute that to -- probably a lot of luck, combined with the character of the teams that we have played -- but we will take it. While you might think that venue and home-team crowds might play a role, it seems to be of minimal importance. For example, while UNC has the lowest opponent FT percentage, Duke and Syracuse (notoriously difficult places to play) have among the highest.
Go Canes!
