Georgetown vs. Rutgers: Hoyas have developed sudden woes from free throw line

In the opening minutes of an 83-75 victory over DePaul on Tuesday night, Georgetown guard Jason Clark sank two three-pointers, made a layup and added an assist and a rebound. That early production triggered one of the senior’s most complete games, featuring a season-high 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting, including 5 of 7 from three-point range.

Clark’s precision from long distance, though, made his travails at the free throw line that much more confounding. The Hoyas’ leading scorer, who’s second on the team in field goal percentage, missed 5 of 9 foul shots, and he wasn’t alone. Clark’s teammates also developed a case of the yips from the line, with Georgetown combining to shoot 57 percent, its second-worst percentage this season.

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Over the past five games, the 10th-ranked Hoyas, who host Rutgers on Saturday, are shooting 61 percent at the line. That’s nearly 10 percent worse than their season average and has contributed to Georgetown (15-3, 5-2 Big East) tumbling from second to sixth in the conference in that category.

“It’s a mystery,” Clark said of the foul shooting swoon, referring to his personal downturn and the team’s collectively.

“It really is,” Coach John Thompson III said moments later. “Our good shooters are missing their foul shots, and they are good shooters, and we work on it, and I don’t know. It’s one of those things where as a coach, ‘What’s the right answer?’

“Do you beat them up with it so they start thinking about it? Do you ignore it? Our good shooters are missing their foul shots, and so don’t write about it so they don’t think about it too much. It’s got to change. It’d be different if your bad shooters are missing shots.”

Clark, for instance, is shooting nearly 51 percent from the field this season but in the last five games has missed 13 of 27 from the line. His 52 percent foul shooting over that stretch is 20 percentage points worse than his season average, with the slide commencing during a 73-70 win against then-No. 20 Marquette that perhaps wouldn’t have been as precarious had Clark not missed 7 of 13 free throws.

Junior forward Hollis Thompson is Georgetown’s leader in field goal percentage both overall and from three-point range, where he’s shooting 53 percent. That percentage is second in the Big East and eighth nationally, yet Thompson has missed 10 of his last 18 free throws.

Thompson is shooting roughly 23 percentage points worse than his season average at the line over his last five games.

“Honestly man, I have no idea,” Thompson said when asked why Georgetown’s foul shooting has been on the decline. “I just know we’ve all been in [the gym] working vigorously on our free throws, and we’re going to get better.”

In addition to free throw shooting, the Hoyas are paying special attention to ball security. Georgetown has had at least 15 turnovers in three of its last four games but is averaging just less than 13 per game for the season.

Rutgers, meantime, forced 20 turnovers in a 67-60 victory over then-No. 8 Connecticut on Jan. 7 for its first conference victory. The Scarlet Knights (11-8, 3-3) also beat then-No. 10 Florida on Dec. 29, marking the second time in program history they have defeated ranked teams twice in one season.

“When we get shots, they go in,” said Thompson III, whose team is shooting 48 percent, second best in the Big East. “So let’s get more shots. That’s the message: Let’s get more shots. Let’s not give them more shots. Let’s us get more shots.”