Richmond Basketball: 3 keys for Spiders to upset No. 11 West Virginia
2. A good chunk of West Virginia’s production comes at the line – and Richmond’s discipline could prevent that today
In the same vein of drawing fouls, West Virginia has found great success this season at the free-throw line. Of the team’s point production, 22.0% come on three-pointers, while 54.1% is produced on two-pointers. 23.9%, meanwhile – the 48th-highest mark in Div. I – comes from the charity stripe.
If Culver and Tshiebwe – among others – are not getting an offensive rebound (which they get on 40.4% of their shots, the fourth-best mark in college basketball) and putback, they are getting sent to the free-throw line. In total, they attempt 24.2 free-throws a game (60th-best) and drain 18.0 (36th-best), culminating in a 72nd-best 74.5% shooting clip.
Their worst shooting performance from the line so far this season was against Georgetown when they shot 66.7% – and they made 22 free-throws in that game. They got to the charity stripe 33 times against Gonzaga, 12 more times than the Bulldogs did.
That will be a challenge against a disciplined Richmond squad, however, and it could be another area of weakness that the Spiders are able to expose. I mentioned on the last slide that the Spiders have drawn 64 fouls in their four games thus far – and opponents have drawn that exact number against Richmond, as well.
Teams have gotten just 16.0% of their offensive output from the charity stripe against Richmond so far, and much of that comes from the discipline, brilliance – and, to an extent, lack of physical play – from Golden, Nathan Cayo, and Tyler Burton. All 6-7 (or taller) posts, the trio average less than three fouls – apiece – a game.
In their four games, teams are attempting just 17.8 free-throws a game against the Spiders – a substantially smaller number than the number of freebies the Mountaineers take. The trade-off for the Spiders is that they allow teams to record 58.2% of their offensive output on two-pointers – an area that West Virginia thrives in.
The Mountaineers will undoubtedly continue to dominate inside in this game, with the jury still out on their streaky outside play. But if the Spiders are able to prevent West Virginia from scoring with the clock stopped, then that should be able to cancel out any damage done inside.