Foul shooting has been an Achilles heel for the Rutgers men's basketball team all season, and that was no different in Saturday's loss.
Typically, the problem is hitting free throws. Against Marquette, the Scarlet Knights had issues just making it to the charity stripe.
Freshman Earl Pettis shot the first, and only, two free throw attempts for the Knights with just 2:50 remaining in the second half. Incomprehensibly, 37 minutes had gone by, and RU had taken no foul shots.
Down by 27 when Pettis stepped to the line, the Knights dug themselves a hole in the second half by taking too many pull-up jumpers and converting on a mere 27.6 percent of them.
"I don't think I've ever been involved in a game where we only shot two free throws," Rutgers head coach Fred Hill Jr. said in a press conference following the loss. "We settled for too many jump shots."
RU entered the game converting on just 65 percent of its foul shots this year. While the struggles of big men Byron Joynes and Hamady N'diaye have been well documented, only two players, forward Jaron Griffin and guard Anthony Farmer, are shooting over 75 percent for the season.
As is on par this year for the Knights, Pettis missed one of two.
In one of the more frightening moments of the afternoon, Joynes rolled over Marquette's 185-pound point guard Dominic James while going for a loose ball in the first half.
James' right leg became pinned underneath Joynes, who outweighs him by 80 pounds. He immediately crumpled to floor.
Hobbling in pain, James went to the locker room for treatment but did return for the start of the second half. Taped well, he finished the game and Marquette head coach Tom Crean said he would be available for the Golden Eagles' next game.
"He knows he's one of the leaders on this team. You can't show pain, you can't show that you're hurt or down or anything like that when you're looked at upon like he is," Marquette guard Wesley Matthews said. "He brings it every day."
