NCAA basketball has become more and more about guard play over the past few years. The trend was further emphasized when the 3-point line was moved back this season.
But Marquette, unlike many guard-oriented teams, is not a particularly spectacular shooting squad. Where the Golden Eagles excel is getting into the paint and getting to the free throw line.
In their 81-67 win over Central Michigan Tuesday night, the Golden Eagles attempted a season-high 38 free throws (making 31).
"We want to make more free throws than the opponent attempts," coach Buzz Williams said. "We really got the ball into the paint and played off of that."
While this has always been Marquette's strength, Golden Eagles teams of the past have at times strayed away from that. Last season, with the same core group of players, the team averaged 22.4 free throw attempts per game. This season Marquette is averaging 34.1 attempts per game.
This number will likely drop once the conference season starts and the Golden Eagles face tougher — and larger — competition, but it is clear that this year's team intends to get the ball inside early and often.
"We learned from our previous games that we can't settle," senior guard Dominic James said. "Not that the shots we were taking in the past were bad shots, but we know that we can get better shots."
The biggest beneficiary has been guard Wesley Matthews. Much has been said about Matthews' breakout campaign so far this season and most of his success can be attributed to his prowess at the free throw line.
Matthews is averaging 10.7 free throw attempts per game and making 88 percent of those attempts. In fact, 42.8 percent of his 22 points per game have come from the charity stripe. Last season Matthews attempted only 4.8 free throws per game.
What is interesting, aside from the high number of free throw attempts, is the team's high number of free throws made. Against Central Michigan the Golden Eagles went 31-for-38 from the line.
"I think that just shows the mentality we had, which was attack," forward Lazar Hayward said.
Marquette's 72.4 team free throw percentage this season is only a small improvement from last season's 70.6 percent, but the combined free throw percentage (82.9) of the team's three leading scorers (Matthews, Jerel McNeal and Hayward) stands in sharp contrast to combined percentage (71) of last season's three leading scorers (McNeal, Dominic James and Hayward).
Curious considering Williams has said on more than one occasion that he does not have the team practice free throws.
"Do you practice riding your bike?" Williams asked. "Those kids have grown up playing ball their whole life. You step to the line and you make free throws, and your shot doesn't change. Just like when you're riding a bike, it doesn't change no matter how long it's been since you rode a bike.
"But your mind needs to be right in order to make free throws … No, we don't shoot free throws (in practice). Step to the line, shoot to make, be mentally tough enough to make them."
Even though the team doesn't practice shooting free throws, getting to the line is more important than ever to Marquette's game plan, which was executed with much greater success against Central Michigan than against Dayton, where the team shot only 63.9 percent from the line.
"We just weren't happy with ourselves," Hayward said. "We really wanted to get that Dayton game out of our system."