Setting Friday night’s three-point barrage, the Kentucky Wildcats have been abysmal shooting the deep ball to start their 2019-2020 campaign.
Naturally, the Wildcats’ missing long jump shots has led to fast break opportunities for Kentucky’s opponents. While that’s certainly been a headache to watch, Kentucky’s aggressiveness inside the painted area has been rather soothing.
And their success shooting free throws has been ever better.
Kentucky shot 16-18 from the free throw line in Friday’s win, improving their season average to 80.1%.
It’s hard to tell if Kentucky can keep up their hot shooting, but even junior center Nick Richards appears to have a very solid form at the line. In recent years, Kentucky’s inability to shoot free throws has crippled their success against better teams, especially in the postseason.
If Kentucky can consistently keep their team’s average above 75%, though, most would call that a win for a team that has looked fairly dominant in the painted area so far this year.
Also, as the Wildcats continue to climb out of their three-point shooting drought, head coach John Calipari’s drive and kick offense could really pop over the next month or so.