A quick look at senior guard Markus Howard’s 25% 3-point shooting against then- No. 10 Villanova would hardly suggest an eventual win Jan. 4.
Yet Howard used a different element of his game to give the Golden Eagles their surprise win: his high volume of free throws. It’s nothing new for the 5-foot-11 guard. In fact, it’s been an increasingly reliable weapon for Howard.
Howard is third in the country with 8.0 fouls drawn per 40 minutes, per KenPom, a prominent college basketball analytics site.
Auburn’s Austin Wiley is the only other player from the six major college basketball conferences to have at least 8.