If there is one thing that drives me absolutely crazy when watching a basketball game, it is missed free throws. You have to make the easy ones, especially when you are struggling from the floor like Kentucky Basketball was against UCF.
A major reason the Wildcats let a double-digit lead slip away is that the Cats couldn’t put the ball in the basket, even when the Knights tried to give them points.
The Wildcats finished just 9/17 from the line in regulation, with two late misses from Braydon Hawthrone eventually forcing Alex Wilkins into some late-game heroics.
Combine the missed free throws with the Wildcats shooting just 12/33 from the floor in the second half, and it is easy to see how a big lead disappears.
Meanwhile, UCF shot 20/23 from the charity stripe during regulation. That included two clutch free throws to give UCF the lead with 26.5 seconds remaining.
Luckily for Kentucky, the Knights finally missed a free throw late, and that allowed Alex Wilkins to hit a floater with under a second to go.
The Cats then put the Knights away in overtime, but the easy ones have to start falling in if they want to achieve something special.
Free throws matter in college basketball
To understand the true value of free throws, look at the last decade of the sport.
No national champion in the last ten tournaments has finished their season shooting under 70% as a team. Whether it was Michigan in 2026, Florida in 2025, the back-to-back UConn runs, or North Carolina squeaking by at 70.1 percent in 2017, every single one of those teams knocked down freebies at a good clip.
Leaving those points on the board did not cost the Cats tonight. Kentucky did win 90-75 in overtime, but the game was a lot closer than the score indicated.
It all boils down to the fact that as a college basketball player, you simply can’t miss the easy ones.
Look, surviving a late scare is a positive, but only if the players use it as a warning. The Cats were let off the hook tonight; let’s not make it a habit going forward.