Greg Maddux won a Gold Glove. The Republican Party won in our consistently red state. The Simpsons entertain on a weekly basis. These are things we expect.
Tuesday night, the unexpected happened. It involved Ryan Toolson, UVU’s star of the hardwood. No, it wasn’t his jaw-dropping offensive output of 41 points, but it was a charity stripe that proved not so charitable. Ryan Toolson missed two free throws.
Let me repeat – Ryan Toolson missed two free throws. This is big. This is completely unexpected, much like the surprise of Guns N’ Roses finally releasing the album “Chinese Democracy.”
In Toolson’s previous three seasons, he only missed 17 free throws out of his 321 attempts, a staggering percentage of .947. That number is good enough for the best all-time percentage in the NCAA for players making at least 300 free throws who also averaged the minimum of 2.5 free throws per game.
True to form, Toolson amassed his career high point total in excellent fashion, a sterling combination of his precision shooting(13-17), nearly flawless accuracy from the line(11-13) and impressive long range shooting(4-5). All of this came amid double- and even triple-team defenses against the shooting guard.
Out of the 30 shots that left his hand last Tuesday, he missed a mere six, a notable eighty percent overall. But two of those missed shots were completely unexpected. Indeed, the first missed free throw would have tied his previous career high of 38 points.
In sum, we may yet again see another 41-point performance from Ryan Toolson. What me may never see again is Toolson missing two free throws in one game.
