Inside the stats: Some surprising struggles
Texas has been criticized for its inability to hit free throws. It’s a legit criticism. But the Longhorns certainly aren’t the only “good” team that’s mediocre in an important statistical category.
Here’s a look at some teams that might surprise you with their struggles in certain categories. All statistics are through Tuesday’s games:
FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE
Remember that there are 347 Division I teams, so some of these rankings are surprisingly poor. The flipside of these poor shooting averages is that these teams almost always play aggressive, physical defense — which means the bottom line (the won-lost record) hasn’t been hurt.
Team Percentage NCAA rank
Temple 42.4 224th
UAB 42.6 215th
Virginia Tech 42.8 204th
Charlotte 42.9 198th
Mississippi State 43.3 183rd
Rivals.com
2/11/10
