SPARTANBURG, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - A Wofford basketball star is embracing an unconventional approach at the free throw line he learned from an all-time great while emphasizing the results over the reaction.
“It’s something different. I’m probably the only guy in college basketball who shoots like that,” Wofford fifth-year senior center Kyler Filewich said.
With a conventional approach, he was shooting 29.6 percent at the free throw line through the first 23 games of the Terriers’ season.
“Obviously, it’s been a struggle,” Filewich said. “Game pressure, thinking about it a bit too much. Never shooting as well in a game as you do in practice.”
Filewich has been shooting, by far, the worst in the conference for anyone attempting at least one free throw per game. He is trying to solve his struggle while shooting almost twice as poorly as NBA legend, and notoriously bad free throw shooter, Shaquille O’Neal (52.7 percent for his 19-year NBA career).
“What we were doing was not working at the rate we would like for it to,” Wofford Men’s Basketball Head Coach Dwight Perry said. “You can either do the same thing and bash your head against the wall, or you can try to improve.”
Filewich decided to overcome his challenge with an underhanded approach. Originally, he was hesitant to make the major change. But Wofford assistant coach Tysor Anderson helped persuade him by using a connection to the greatest of all time.
Hall of Famer Rick Barry, who retired with the best free throw percentage in NBA history at 90 percent, flew to Spartanburg to teach the technique.
“It was amazing. It was a huge blessing, huge honor,” Filewich said about learning from a top-50 player of all time. “He’ll check in after games and see how the free throws are feeling. I’m super thankful for him. It was an awesome experience.”
Over a couple days, Barry coached Filewich for eight total hours on the underhanded style both physically and mentally.
“I tell myself to relax, tell myself these are going in,” Filewich said. “Take a dribble, get my grip right, deep breath, roll the ball forward like Rick taught me to do and get a good result hopefully.”
That hope has turned into hoops. Filewich implemented the new technique after missing 14 consecutive free throws across three games. In his first game shooting underhanded free throws hosting Chattanooga on Feb. 5th, he made one out of two. A couple games later, he made four out of six. Then, the next home game hosting Samford, Filewich made a career-high six out of ten free throws. The 6-foot-9 center is shocking the student section.
“It’s comical because when you think of a granny shot, you kind of think of a petite lady shooting underhand. It’s pretty comical,” Wofford Senior Pierce Drummer said from the student section. “It’s really helped, it’s electric, he’s been making a lot more and we’re happy to have him on the team.”
Filewich has emphasized the results over the reaction.
“I put my ego aside. Winning is more important to me than looking cool or whatever,” Filewich said. “So, I’m willing to do it.”
“It’s easy to overlook how tough a decision it was for him,” Coach Perry said. “But at the end of the day, the most important thing that Kyler is thinking about is helping the team win, and this was a decision that helps our team. Really proud of the progress he’s made in such a short amount of time.”
In 23 games shooting overhand this season, Filewich was shooting just under 30 percent from the free throw line. Since making the change to shooting underhand, Filewich has already improved his free throw shooting by eight percent. He’s shooting 38 percent from the free throw line in just his first eight games using the new technique.
“It’s working a bit better so far,” Filewich said. “Hopefully the more I work, the better it’ll even get.”
With every made basket, he’s building a bond with Barry.
His Wofford team will play ETSU in the first round of the SoCon Tournament at 6 p.m. Saturday in Asheville.
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