Lackluster free-throw shooting is not helping slow start

Southeast Missouri State University has suffered five of its six losses by a total of 22 points -- and the team certainly hasn't helped itself from the free-throw line in several of those close games.

For the first time since Garner took over the program eight years ago, Southeast is struggling from the line and is not even close to the 70-percent mark that is generally considered as the acceptable standard for college basketball.

Entering Wednesday night's game at St. Louis University (2-8), Southeast (3-6) is hitting just 66.2 percent of its foul shots (94 of 142) to rank eighth among 11 Ohio Valley Conference teams. Garner's previous seven Southeast squads all shot at least 70 percent from the line.

"I really don't know why we're not shooting as well," Garner said. "When you look at the players we lost from last year, most of them were our worst free-throw shooters, and we've got most of our better ones back."

In a four-point loss at Bradley, Southeast hit 12 of 18 free throws (66.7 percent). In a four-point loss at Wisconsin-Green Bay, Southeast made eight of 12 (66.7 percent), and in a three-point home loss to Montana, hit 13 of 20 (65 percent).

Southeast's two most recent narrow defeats have seen better free-throw shooting.

In a four-point home loss to Southern Illinois, Southeast made 12 of 17 (70.6 percent). And in Wednesday's seven-point setback at North Texas -- the score was tied in the late going -- Southeast hit 17 of 23 (73.9 percent).

"Free throws are so important, especially in close games," Garner said. "They can definitely make the difference between winning and losing.

Of course, accurate free-throw shooting doesn't necessarily lead to success, and poor foul shooting doesn't necessarily lead to failure.

Southeast's best free-throw percentage under Garner was 76.4 in 2001-2002 -- and the team went 6-22.

Southeast's next-to-worst free-throw percentage under Garner entering this season was 70.2 in 1999-2000 -- and that squad went 24-7 on its way to an OVC title and NCAA Tournament berth.

But, all things being equal, Garner hopes Southeast can improve considerably on its foul shooting -- and recent performances have been positive.

"Free-throw shooting is such a mental thing," Garner said. "We're not doing anything different now that we did in those other years.

"But it's still early in the season and hopefully our percentage will keep going up."

Noteworthy

* Senior forward Dainmon Gonner and senior guard Brett Hale continue to lead two of the OVC's main statistical categories. Gonner is first in scoring (20.3 points per game) and Hale is first in 3-point field-goal percentage (58.8 percent, on 20 of 34). Gonner is also fourth in rebounding (8.1 per game).

* Senior forward Reggie Golson, Southeast's second-leading scorer at 14.3 points per game, is third in the OVC in both rebounding (8.4 per game) and field-goal percentage (57.1).

* Freshman point guard Paul Paradoski leads the OVC in assistant-turnover ratio. He has 28 assists and 12 turnovers.