Through 12 games, freshman center Jahlil Okafor averaged 18.8 points on 68.5 percent shooting, 8.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per contest and looked like a legitimate National Player of the Year candidate.
The only aspect of the game that held him back? Free-throw shooting.
The dominant 6-foot-11, 270-pound post player entered Saturday's ACC opener against Boston College shooting just 50 percent from the charity stripe after converting 29 of 58 attempts. As Okafor's arsenal of post moves has looked more and more formidable each time he took the court, it seemed possible that teams could try to put the Chicago native on the line on purpose in addition to playing with more physicality.
After Okafor's performance Saturday against the Eagles, it may be time for ACC coaches to go back to the drawing board.
Okafor made 14 of his 17 free throws Saturday en route to a career-high 28-point performance. The 82.4 percent conversion rate was the second-highest of his young career and by far the most impressive considering the only better one occurred Nov. 21 against Temple when he went 2-of-2.
The Preseason AP National Player of the Year looked like a new man at the line, swishing almost all of his makes, knocking down his first 10 attempts of the game and not getting frustrated by the physical play of Boston College center Dennis Clifford, who fouled out after just 17 minutes of action and picked up a flagrant foul for an elbow to Okafor's head.
"I made my first three or four in a row, so I get into a rhythm and that really made me comfortable at the line," Okafor said with a smile postgame. "Coach K said something to me after the game saying 'What happened?' talking about free throws. A lot of the coaches were telling me to keep it up."
Interestingly enough, Okafor's best performance from the free throw line is the one that came with the least effort before the game. Rather than hoisting up shots in shootaround, he instead worked to get in a better frame of mind.
"This was the first shootaround where I didn't shoot free throws," Okafor said. "I just left the gym, kind of gave up. [Then] I just tried to lock in when I was shooting my free throws today."
Okafor's approach confirmed what assistant coach Nate James said Friday before the game about his free throw struggles being more about a mental block that could be overcome with practice.
"A big part of our game is the mental aspect of it all," James said. "He won't be the first or last player to get in his own head because he obviously has the shooting touch to knock those free throws down, so now it's all about going up there, clearing your mind, going through your routine and just knocking them down and not making it more than what it really is. We feel he'll definitely get over that."
Saturday's performance at the line brought the dominant center's free-throw percentage up to 57.3 and if he stays in rhythm, opponents might be out of ways to combat Okafor on the low block.
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