Ducks not afraid to toe the line in tight games
Keep it simple, Bryce Taylor advised.
When the Oregon junior shoots free throws, it's after "I take two dribbles and a deep breath. Keep my form tight. Once you establish a routine, keep it."
It works. Taylor is fifth in the Pac-10 in free throw percentage, at 83.5 percent.
Aaron Brooks follows Taylor's methodology.
"Three dribbles, a spin (of the ball) and shoot," Brooks said of his trips to the foul line. "Unless you have a routine, you're not going to be a good shooter. It's just a matter of blocking everything out, and putting the ball in the hole."
It obviously works. Brooks is third in the Pac-10 in free throw percentage this season at 84.9 percent, and fifth on Oregon's career list at 83.4 percent.
Then there's freshman Tajuan Porter. He's leading the Pac-10 at 92.5 percent, which is slightly better than the UO season record. If he qualified, his percentage would rank fourth in the latest NCAA Division I statistics, but a player must have made 2.5 free throws per game to be included in that listing. Porter has averaged 2.2 made free throws in the 28 games in which he has played.
His actual numbers? "I don't know how many I've made, but I know I've missed five," Porter said.
Right, he is. He's 62-of-67 entering Oregon's game Thursday in the Pac-10 tournament against Arizona. He's made 36-of-39 in Pac-10 games, including 23 of his past 24, the lone miss in that stretch coming in the first half against Washington on Feb. 24.
"I set a goal to miss no more than five this season," Porter said. "I'm there now, so I can't miss any more."
He means it.
"Being a smaller guy, you want to be the best at everything," the 5-foot-6 Porter said. "You want to stand out in little things that may not be big, but the little things count for guys small like me."
Free throws have also played big for the 16th-ranked Ducks this season, who are making their free throws at a 75 percent clip.
That's second to Cal (.773) in the Pac-10, 11th in the nation (where Villanova leads at .779) and not far behind the Oregon record (.774 in 2003) that also stands as the Pac-10 season mark. In the 18 league games, Oregon has been even better, shooting 80 percent.
"I feel comfortable with anybody on the line," Brooks said.
Along with Oregon having three of the league's top five individuals, reserve Chamberlain Oguchi (.846 overall, including 15-of-16 in Pac-10 games) and Maarty Leunen (.788) are both above the team average, leaving only Adam Zahn (.667), Malik Hairston (.508) and Joevan Catron (.490), of the regulars, below the UO norm.
"We're really solid," UO coach Ernie Kent said. "Even with Malik, it's more a confidence thing, because he is a good shooter."
Except, isn't this all about confidence? The best UO shooters think so.
"You can't look at it as pressure," Porter said. "Some people get nervous. I just focus on making the shot. I go up there with confidence and shoot my regular shot."
There is the thought that practice helps, but Kent said, "we've shot less free throws this year in practice than any year I've been coaching. They're just a good free-throw shooting team."
Besides, Taylor suggested, "I don't know how much extra reps can do unless you're a horrible free-throw shooter" attempting to improve.
The Ducks do have competition when they shoot free throws in practice, which Brooks pointed out, "I've been winning."
And the stakes in that? "Pride right now," Brooks said, "but that means a lot."
What free throws could mean from here on is how long Oregon's season goes on. These are likely to be close games from
now on, in the Pac-10 and NCAA tournaments.
Every point, and thus every free throw, could matter greatly.
In going 23-7, Oregon has outscored opponents by 449 to 340 on free throws.
In 18 Pac-10 games, Oregon has scored 15 more points total than its opponents, with the margin on free throws 259 to 216.
That's fairly significant.
"You hope that will continue," Taylor said. "You would hope we've been in enough of those close-game situations that we'll be able to step up."
Brooks honored again
Brooks has been named to the District IX team by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, a region that includes the states of Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii.
The 10-player team, headed by district player of the year Arron Afflalo of UCLA, includes two others from the Northwest: Eastern Washington's Rodney Stuckey and Washington State's Derrick Low.
The other Pac-10 players named were Darren Collison of UCLA, Marcus Williams of Arizona and Nick Young of USC. Also chosen were Bobby Brown of Cal State-Fullerton, Sean Denison of Santa Clara and Brandon Heath of San Diego State.
Washington State's Tony Bennett was the coach of the year in District IX.
Watching with Ducks
McArthur Court will be open beginning at 2 p.m. Sunday so that fans can join the UO players and coaches as they watch the announcement of NCAA Tournament pairings.
Admission is free, and the first 1,000 in attendance will receive free soda and popcorn. A highlight video of the season will be shown at 2:30 p.m. and the selection show on CBS is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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