If Kansas basketball games seem to fly by faster this season there is a good reason for that. The games seldom are slowed down by whistles that put Jayhawks at the free-throw line.
Kansas always plays fast and you can’t foul what you can’t catch, but even by KU’s standards, free-throw attempts are way down. KU is shooting more 3-pointers, don’t have a low-post threat through whom the offense runs and the guards tend to drive to dish more than to score.
Those are all factors in Kansas ranking 350th in Div. I in percentage of free throws attempted compared to field goals attempted, one of many statistics tracked at kenpom.com, with a ratio of 19.6 percent.
The next-lowest percentage and rank (36.4/178th) came during the national-championship season of 2007-08. The highest ratio (48.3/32nd) happened in 2013-14, when Andrew Wiggins took off for the hoop and drew foul calls as the ball spilled out of bounds.
Lagerald Vick leads this year’s team in free-throw attempts with 20 in nine games, an average of 2.2 per game, the lowest for a team leader during the Bill Self era.
| Season | *FTA/FGA pct. National rank |
KU leader | FTA/ Avg. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 19.6/350 | Lagerald Vick | 20/2.2 |
| 2016-17 | 36.0/160 | Frank Mason | 238/6.6 |
| 2015-16 | 38.6/114 | Frank Mason | 184/4.8 |
| 2014-15 | 42.6/42 | Perry Ellis | 163/4.8 |
| 2013-14 | 48.3/32 | Andrew Wiggins | 227/6.7 |
| 2012-13 | 39.5/80 | Jeff Withey | 192/5.2 |
| 2011-12 | 39.8/77 | Thomas Robinson | 239/6.1 |
| 2010-11 | 39.3/124 | Marucs Morris | 215/5.7 |
| 2009-10 | 41.3/86 | Cole Aldrich | 159/4.4 |
| 2008-09 | 39.5/85 | Sherron Collins | 166/4.2 |
| 2007-08 | 36.4/178 | Mario Chalmers | 130/3.3 |
| 2006-07 | 36.2/172 | Julian Wright | 119/3.1 |
| 2005-06 | 35.3/193 | Russell Robinson | 124/3.8 |
| 2004-05 | 38.5/111 | Wayne Simien | 174/6.7 |
| 2003-04 | 39.4/101 | Wayne Simien | 206/6.4 |
| *Source: Kenpom.com |
