For each of the past two seasons and a majority of the 2025-26 season to date, Liberty basketball has struggled to shoot the ball well from the free throw line. Their percentage has hovered around the mid-60s for the duration of that time. that is simply not very good for any team, obviously. Those struggles haven’t cost the team a win this season, but with 17 conference games still to come and all of them expected to be competitive, free throw shooting will be critical.
Since the start of conference play, over the last three games, Liberty has significantly improved its shooting from the charity stripe. Liberty is 53-68 or 77.9%, a significant improvement from where this team was previously.
Josh Smith has been a perfect 11-11 during that stretch. Brett Decker is 15-16 (94%). Colin Porter is 11-13 (85%). Kaden Metheny is 8-9 (89%).
Credit to the players and coaches for working on a clear weakness to improve it. The recent three game stretch puts Liberty at 66.8% as a team on the year. Still among the nation’s worst at 321st nationally, but a marked improvement from where it was at 61.8% on the season prior to this three-game stretch.
Coach McKay has traditionally had pretty good free throw shooting teams during his time at Liberty, which makes sense with him typically having multiple good shooters on the team. Four times during his tenure in Lynchburg has the Flames finished in the top 26 nationally for free throw shooting, including twice finishing in the top six.
The improvement in this recent stretch obviously does not mean Liberty is suddenly going to become one of the best free throw shooting teams in the country. Clearly the next step is to continue that trend moving forward and not revert back to where it was through the first 10 or so games of the season, but the last three are certainly an encouraging sign.
