Last season was the fourth straight in which Clemson improved its foul shooting accuracy. Brad Brownell’s squad finished just a shade behind Notre Dame (.758), which paced the ACC for the second year in a row.
As recently as the 2007 season the Tigers made a mere 57.8 percent of their attempts from the free throw line. During Oliver Purnell’s era as Clemson coach (2004-10), foul shooting often killed the Tigers in close games.
When asked what he could do to boost his teams’ acuity at the line, Purnell confided a need to recruit better shooters rather than try to polish athletic but relatively raw players.