Good 3-point shooting and offensive rebounding have a lot to do with the Arizona Wildcats’ surprising offensive efficiency this season.
But there’s another little trick to all those points per possession (114.2 per 100) that showed up again on Thursday: They know how to get to the line.
In Arizona’s 70-61 win over Oregon State, the Wildcats took 34 free throws, 24 more than Beavers, and now rank No. 1 nationally in both free-throws attempted (507) and free-throws made (365).
While the Wildcats are only average at actually making all those free throws — their free-throw percentage of 72% rates only 123rd nationally — their win over the Beavers showed again that just having the ability to pick up all those attempts can make the difference.
On Thursday, the UA shot just 40% from the field and only 67.6% from the free throw line. But just making 23 of 34 free throws represented 17 more points scored at the line than OSU did on its 6-for-10 free throw shooting.
Basically, the Wildcats drove inside and became foul magnets.
“We got the ball close to the basket constantly,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “Got it there by offensive rebounding, got it there on our transition game, got the ball to the rim on set plays, drives, post-ups — and they fouled us. We’re a physical team.
“If you think about that, if there’s 350-plus teams in the country, and we shoot the most free throws? I think we’re doing something right on offense.”
Against OSU and the Beavers’ physical inside players, the Wildcats made drawing fouls an emphasis maybe as much as ever.
Arizona’s 34 free-throw attempts tied for the second-most the Wildcats have taken all season, behind only the 43 they took (hitting 32) in their 80-67 win over ASU on Jan. 25 at McKale Center.
“We knew coming in they were a hard-playing team, so that was one of our game plans — to just drive and create fouls,” said center Christian Koloko, who hit 5 of 6 free throws against the Beavers. “They jump for every shot so we knew if we attacked the rim, we were going to get fouled. I think it worked out pretty well.”
At the same time, the Wildcats have also cut down on not fouling so much themselves, especially on the offensive end.
Miller made several references to that issue during the first month of the season, including when he once said the Wildcats needed to “kind of join the party and flop,” implying that they weren’t taking advantage of the chance to pick up charges like other teams were against them.
On Thursday, the Wildcats committed only 12 fouls to OSU’s 26 — and just 2 of the 12 were offensive fouls.
“We don’t turn the ball over or get called for those offensive fouls as much as we once did, and that helps us,” Miller said. “We did a good job of not fouling them, especially in the second half. And that’s a big reason we won.”
But, of course, Miller would like to see the other part of that free-throw equation improve.
“Gotta convert,” Miller said Thursday. “We left some points on the court tonight, missing front ends of a 1-and-1, not shooting the percentage we’re capable of. If we would have done that, we would have had a bigger margin of victory.”
While they still won by nine on Thursday, against an ascendant Oregon team on Saturday at McKale Center, the Wildcats might not have nearly as much room for error.
