Toeing the line
In this article:
Some guys just know how to get to the line. Sometimes it’s because they are aggressive to the hole. Sometimes they have the ball in their hands late in games, when other teams are forced to foul. And sometimes, it’s…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingSome guys just know how to get to the line. Sometimes it’s because they are aggressive to the hole. Sometimes they have the ball in their hands late in games, when other teams are forced to foul. And sometimes, it’s just because they are so physically superior that they are forcing defenders to use max effort, pushing, grabbing and holding just to keep up.
Though statistics can be a little bit hit-and-miss at this time of year, here are some guys we know are getting to the line a lot:
Cooper Wolf, senior, South Haven:
Tops in the state according to what stats are available at this point, the 6-foot senior is getting to the line 8.28 times per game. That means Wolf earns about one-third of his 25.0 points at the charity stripe. Coming up big in big games, Wolf recently scored 15 points as South Haven defeated the top ranked team in 1A Div. II, Attica.
Will Rau, senior, Veritas:
The 6-foot-4 athlete is just too much for defenders to slow down without fouling. He has attemped double-digit free throws in nine games already this year, with seven of those games taking at least 12 foul shots. He averages 8.15 attempts per game, which is a big reason why he’s averaging 23.1 points for Veritas.
Nahcs Wahwassuck Nahcs Wahwassuck 6'5" | CG Royal Valley | 2022 State KS , junior, Royal Valley:
A guy with the ball in his hands all the time, he gets fouled both going hard to the hole, and when the clock is winding down. He averages about 8 trips to the line per game, but he has games with 18, 16 and 11 attempts.
Trayton Walker, junior, Oswego:
For a guy only averaging about 13 points per game, Walker gets to the line a ton. He’s currently averaging 7.86 trips to the charity stripe.
Sterling Chapman Sterling Chapman 6'4" | CG Campus | 2021 State KS , senior, Campus:
A guy who gets fouled a lot at the big-school level, Chapman is just too athletic for the average defender. He’s a 6-foot-5 guard who handles the ball all over the court and can take it to the hole. He can shoot from the perimeter, so defenders have to crowd him, but once on the drive, he’s next to impossible to stop. Thus he gets to the line 7.30 times per game. He went to the line 17 times against Derby.
Jacob Hanna Jacob Hanna 6'3" | CG Andover | 2021 State KS , senior, Maize (pictured):
Hanna is just an inch or so shorter than Chapman, but he has a lot of the springiness and quickness. He makes his living slicing to the hole and running the court, so it’s no wonder he draws a lot of fouls. Hanna is currently making 7.18 trips to the line per game. He went to the line 15 times once this year, and 14 in two other contests.