A closer look at Minnesota's abysmal free-throw shooting under Ben Johnson

The Gophers are among the worst free-throw shooting teams in college basketball.
Jan 6, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA;  Ohio State Buckeyes guard Ques Glover (6) is fouled by Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Mike Mitchell Jr. (2) during the second overtime at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Wosika-Imagn Images
Jan 6, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes guard Ques Glover (6) is fouled by Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Mike Mitchell Jr. (2) during the second overtime at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Wosika-Imagn Images / Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

Gophers men's basketball had every chance to take down Ohio State on Monday night, but they weren't able to seal the deal. A 12 of 29 (44.4%) performance from the free-throw line the most glaring deficiency on a night of many for Minnesota in the double-overtime loss.

"It's tough. Those guys put a lot of time into free throws. I am obviously with them every day and the stuff we have them do outside of practice, in practice," head coach Ben Johnson said following the 89-88 loss. "It's tough to win any game when you go 12 of 27. Again, we've been shooting it pretty good. It has been a little bit of a strength for us, we've been able to rely on the free-throw line to get some points. Tonight, for whatever reason, we couldn't get the confidence at the line."

Through 15 games this season, Minnesota has shot 61.8% from the free-throw line. That ranks fifth-worst, or 360th of 364 Division I basketball programs. The only teams that rank lower are Charleston Southern, Air Force, Stephen F. Austin and The Citadel.

This development is not something new for the Gophers program under Johnson. They've annually been among the worst free-throw shooting teams. Last season they shot 69.0% as a team, which ranked 290th in the country. In 2022-23, they shot 61.9% from the line, ranking dead last in the country. In Johnson's first season, the Gophers shot 71.8% as a team, which ranked 167th.

“It's always funny to me when people don't think that every college team doesn't put a crazy amount of time on free throws," Johnson said earlier this season when asked about his team's free-throw struggles. "If you’re a head coach and you harp on it so much, who do you think is gonna feel that? Your players."

It hasn't been an easy four years for Johnson. The implementation of Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) has distorted the recruiting and roster retention beyond recognition. It's led to significant roster overhaul each of the last two seasons and while Johnson was able to put an NIT-caliber team on the floor in 2023-24, the new-look team in 2024-25 is performing like one of the least capable Minnesota teams in recent history.


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