With the Mount St. Mary's men's basketball team having graduated its top three scorers from last season, it shouldn't be terribly startling that the offense has struggled to find points thus far.
The Mountaineers (2-5) have averaged 59.1 points per game, which ranks 319th out of 345 Division I programs. They are 0-5 when they have scored fewer than 70 points.
One reason for the offense's woeful offense: free-throw shooting.
Mount St. Mary's is shooting just 58.9 percent from the foul line, 334th in the country. The team's 53 made free throws are second fewest in the nation, ahead of only Nicholls State's 43.
The Mountaineers' ineffectiveness at the charity stripe has befuddled coach Jamion Christian, who said the team's group of 10 freshmen and sophomores might play a role.
"It's really strange," he said Thursday. "We've been an excellent free-throw shooting team, and I just think we haven't gotten there enough. We spend an enormous amount of time on free throws every single day, and we track them every single day. It's been a thing that we've been really good at lately. But I think the free-throw shooting speaks more to the youth of our team and the inexperience of getting there. … I don't think we've gotten there enough with the right guys. We've got to make sure that we keep driving the ball to the front of the rim and get fouled, that we're playing a physical style of basketball."
The team has attempted just 90 free throws, tied for third fewest in Division I. Christian said Mount St. Mary's still is learning what it takes to draw foul calls.
"We're very young, and getting to the free-throw line, it's really an art that experienced guys have learned how to do," he said. "When you're a freshman, guys always try to go around the contact instead of going through it. So it's learning that balance. Our guys will learn how to get that contact and get to the free-throw line."
Christian said players spend about 25 minutes at each practice working on their free throws, but no amount of practice can replicate real-game experience.
"The other thing that helps your free-throw shooting is when you're up in games late, and I'm picking and choosing who's going to get fouled," he said. "We haven't been in that scenario as much. All of our free throws have been in game flow, which we can't control. I think if you look at the best free-throw-shooting teams in the country, those are teams that are often up in games late, and they're getting fouled and sending their best free-throw shooters to the line. So I think we'll have an opportunity to do that more, and our free-throw shooting will jump up."