In the last two outings for the West Virginia Mountaineers, one common denominator has stuck out like a sore thumb. And when you realize it, it's easy to see how it might be a factor in sparking a losing streak for a team.
Ask yourself: how many times have the Mountaineers gotten to the free throw line over the past two games? And then, while your mind is on the charity stripe, ask yourself how many free throws West Virginia's opponents have put up. If you think about about, and you've been paying attention during those games, the number might feel a little lopsided. And you'd be right.
That common denominator during the road swing with games at TCU and Oklahoma State? Well, it's that the the Mountaineers have shot less free throws in total than their opponents made. Against the Cowboys on Tuesday, WVU only shot 12 free throws (and embarrassingly made just six of them). Oklahoma State made 19 of their free throws – they got to the line 27 times.
And when the other team is shooting 15 more free throws than you and outscoring you by 13 points at the charity strip in an overtime loss by seven points, that's a pretty significant problem. But it doesn't just stop there. Against TCU, the Mountaineers went 9-of-12 at the foul line; the Horned Frogs, meanwhile, went 18-of-27. The margin of victory for TCU was just six points.
And when the losing streak started against Utah, the rule of 'opponent made more free throws than WVU attempted' was narrowly avoided, but the impact of foul shooting was nonetheless felt. WVU went a middling 7-of-15 from the line, while Utah went 14-of-21. The Mountaineers would lose by just six points in a game where they were outscored by seven points in free throws.
The big problem over the recent devastating losing streak has been a combination of not earning enough free throw attempts and not making the ones available. But the part where they're not making free throws? It's been a consistent problem all year, with the team currently shooting just 67% from the foul line as a whole.
If the Mountaineer wants to finish the season with any semblance of success, something has to change at the foul line. And while this may just be who this team is in term's of accuracy at the charity stripe, it wouldn't hurt to see a shift in strategy at generating more attempts as well.