Ohio State basketball team needs to get to free-throw line more

The Ohio State basketball team had two elite players on the offensive side of the court last season in E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham. They both carried the load offensively in a way similar to the way Liddell and Duane Washington did so back in 2020-2021.

Even with the great offensive load they carried, the offense for the Buckeyes had some warts. Those are some warts that need to be fixed even more now that Liddell and Branham aren’t there to cover them up anymore. One of the biggest warts is the Buckeyes’ free-throw rate.

Last season, Ohio State was 140th in the country at getting to the foul line. They averaged 18.2 free throws per game. Not only is that 140th nationally, but that’s just the 6th-best rate in the Big Ten. They simply weren’t getting to the free-throw line enough.

Free throws are an easy way for a team to add points. The Ohio State basketball team was actually quite good at the foul line when they did get there, hitting 75.7% of their free throws. That was good enough for 42nd nationally and was the second-best rate in the Big Ten.

So the Buckeyes need to get to the foul line more because they convert at a high rate from there. It’s an easier way to score points, especially with how bogged down their half-court offense got at times last season. That will only be worse without a proven scorer on the roster.

The higher the free-throw rate, the better this Ohio State basketball team will perform. Getting those easy points are an easy barometer to see how high this team is performing once the season rolls around. I’m sure this is something that Chris Holtmann will be harping on this offseason.