Feet spread shoulder-width apart. Three bounces. Arms hung down. Knees bent. Cock the wrists. Fling up and follow through.
This is how NBA Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry shot his free throws. Granny style.
And while it may seem goofy, by the time Barry retired in 1980, he had the best free-throw percentage in NBA history.
His son, Canyon Barry, a graduate transfer in his first year with the Gators, is following in his father’s’ footsteps.
It’s an unusual solution, but Florida has an unusual free-throw problem.
Of 346 Division I teams, 322 finished last season with a better free-throw percentage than the Gators.
And it’s a problem UF coach Mike White said there’s no immediate solution to.
“I just don’t think we’re going to make a huge jump in (free throws or three pointers),” White said on media day.
“I know we were 14th (in the SEC) at the foul line, and I don’t think we’re going to jump to first. “But I think we can make a pretty good jump in both areas. I’d be surprised if we weren’t a little closer toward the middle of the pack.”
SEC stats show Florida finished 12th of 14 teams last season, but that’s probably not enough to ease White's concerns.
The problem starts at the top.
Florida’s two returning players who shot the most free throws last season were center John Egbunu and point guard Kasey Hill. And not many Gators shot free throws worse than they did. Egbunu’s 53.2-percent and Hill’s 53.8-percent rates hurt Florida’s offense and have been a topic of discussion throughout the offseason.
White said Hill reinvented his shooting stroke over the summer to improve his numbers.
“We’d like to think the work he’s put in will pay off in terms of his percentage going up a little bit to try to help this team, to try to help himself,” White said. “And he’s shooting it well from the foul line in practice as well with our pressure free-throw shooting drills.”
But it’s not just the stars. The effort to ingrain free throws into players has become team-wide.
Redshirt freshman Keith Stone cited White’s rule in practice: You have to make 80 percent of your free throws or the whole team runs.
After sitting out a year, Stone said he’s doing everything he can to make sure he can watch his first free throw go in.
“Just putting pressure on yourself, making (the situation) game-like,” Stone said. “After you get done with a drill, you go shoot free throws when you’re tired.”
But one Florida player has embraced the unusual solution. Barry has reincarnated the outdated free-throw form his father retired 36 years ago. Last season at the College of Charleston, Barry converted an impressive 84.5 percent of his free throws.
Barry has even proposed struggling teammates adopt his style.
“He tried to recruit John Egbunu early on,” White said. “John gave it about four or five reps and threw it away. But he’s knocking them in in practice. Canyon is arguably our best free-throw shooter right now, so it’s fascinating to watch.”
Senior forward Justin Leon also noticed Barry’s success at the stripe.
“The number one thing I like about him is (his) free throws,” Leon said. “It’s just something different.”
And while his motion is unusual, Leon said he can’t discredit the style when nearly 85 percent of Barry’s attempts go in.
“It’s not me,” Leon said. “I tried it, but I’m gonna stick to the regular form.”
Contact Matt Brannon at mbrannon@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @MattB_727.
Florida coach Mike White calls out instructions to his team during Florida's 88-79 loss to Kentucky on March 1, 2016, in the O'Connell Center.
