Roberts Free Throw Quest

Terrence Roberts missed the St. Bonaventure and Hofstra games with his knee injury, and then didn’t get an opportunity at the line versus Pitt, so he’s been on hold with his quest for free throw shooting history.

An ironic twist occurred along the way against Marquette. The Orange as a team had a bad night at the charity stripe. The team was 0-6 from the line in the first half, on their way to a 21-35 night from the line. The game entered the final minute with the Orange having a slight lead. Marquette did the smart thing and fouled Roberts rather than let him score. And what did Roberts do? Well, the owner of a career 46.7% free throw shooting percent, calmly made both of his free throw shooting to basically seal the win for Syracuse.

And while I don’t expect the trend to last, Roberts has gone 5-6, 83% from the line in the last three games he’s played. Not quite Gerry McNamara numbers, but that would put him in the Eric Devendorf class. Of course six free throw attempts statistically means nothing… but Roberts easily could have been 0-6.

So for the season, TRob is up to 24-54 from the free throw line (44.4%), and his career percentage is skyrocketing (well, not quite) to 138 of 293, or 47.1%.

As a side note, the rapid improvement of Darryl Watkins at the free throw line has simply been amazing this year. Watkins was a career 48.2% free throw shooter entering this season. Yet, he has managed to go 35 of 50 for 70% for this season, and even improved to 8 of 12 for 75% in his first two Big East games. Mookie, my hat is off to you, and may you continue shooting it well from the free zone.

RY