This year’s Kansas basketball team has a major issue: Why can’t they draw any fouls?

Bill Self is experiencing a first with this season’s Kansas Jayhawks squad.

KU — a team opponents have claimed for years gets a more-than-friendly whistle at Allen Fieldhouse — is struggling to draw fouls and get to the free-throw line.

Kansas ranks No. 362 in free throw rate (20.2). It’s the lowest rate ever in Self’s 21-year tenure with the Jayhawks. That puts the Jayhawks in the bottom 5 of the nation.

It’s just the fourth time the rate has been below 30 in the past 21 years and the lowest since 2017-18. That squad lost to Villanova in the Final Four and had a rate of 27, which ranked No. 329.

Currently, Kansas is making just nine free throws per game, while opponents are making 14.5. When the Jayhawks do manage to get to the line, KU shoots just 71.4% on free throws, ranking No. 181 overall.

“We’ve been the beneficiary of shooting more free throws than our opponents for 21 straight years, and it is tougher when teams average 11 more opportunities a game than what we get or something like that,” Self said. “So we’ve got to find some way to stem the tide.”

In KU’s latest game, the NC State Wolfpack had an 11-1 advantage in free throw attempts at halftime. NC State went 6-of-11 at the line. KU, for the game, attempted seven foul shots.

“We did a better job getting it inside, but we didn’t do a better job getting to the free throw line,” Self said. ”That’s six halves in a row we hadn’t gotten to the bonus — six in a row. Three consecutive games we didn’t get to the bonus.”

Self has emphasized this to his players multiple times this season. However, KU guard Zeke Mayo downplayed the issue after the team’s win over NC State.

“When we’re outscoring opponents and getting stops, the free throws aren’t really a necessity,” Mayo said, “But it is a nice little touch when we can get to the free throw line and get those free points.”

Historically, free throw rate — by itself — isn’t necessarily a great indicator of whether or not a team will win an NCAA championship. But it can put up some alarm bells.

Although no previous title team ranked below 300 in free throw rate since the 2014-15 season, multiple teams have ranked outside the top 200. The common factor for those teams? They shot well from 3-point range.

The one exception was 2016-17 North Carolina, an elite rebounding (particularly offensive rebounding) team. The Tar Heels led the nation in both rebounds and offensive rebounds that year.

Here’s a closer look at each past title winner:

For the Jayhawks, this chart spells trouble.

Kansas has struggled to take and make 3-pointers at a consistent rate this season.

Although the Jayhawks have improved in both metrics recently, they still rank 309th in 3-point rate and 101st in 3-point percentage (35.4%).

That’s an especially troubling sign, because teams that shoot more 3-pointers naturally tend to get fouled less, as Self pointed out Thursday. But the Jayhawks aren’t shooting a ton of 3s, nor are they drawing a ton of foul shots.

One reason for that?

“We’re not shooting many 3s, and we are getting fouled less,” Self said. “We haven’t thrown inside as much, which, unfortunately, the way the game used to be, that’s how you got to the free throw line by throwing inside. Now, you get to the free throw line by driving. We don’t have guys that obviously that drive the ball downhill as well as some others that we will play against.

“That’s something we talk about everyday and its obviously a concern, the discrepancy in the number of free throws that we shoot compared to our opponents. Now, with that being said, you could maybe make a case from time to time that we didn’t get a good whistle that game — that’s not the reason why we are shooting less free throws.”

Self continued: “The whistle has nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with the things people consider fouls and how you get to the free throw line. It hasn’t been as conducive to us getting there because in large part we haven’t taken advantage of the way the whistle is going to be, which is drive it, drive it, drive it, drive it.”

Whatever the reason, the Jayhawks have work to do.

No team besides that UNC squad has ranked in the 200s or below in both categories and won an NCAA championship in the last decade.

This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 6:00 AM.

Shreyas Laddha

The Kansas City Star

Shreyas Laddha covers KU hoops and football for The Star. He’s a Georgia native and graduated from the University of Georgia.