Krzyzewski: Okafor 'probably embarrassed' by his free-throw shooting

Jahlil Okafor has shouldered a major offensive burden in his two games since returning from a sprained ankle he suffered in a Feb. 18 win against North Carolina—with a career-high 30 points against Virginia Tech and a 13-point, 14-rebound performance Saturday against Syracuse.

The one place Okafor has not succeeded has been a thorn in his side the entire season—at the free-throw line.

The 6-foot-11 freshman missed his first six attempts from the charity stripe en route to a 1-for-7 performance Saturday night.

"You have to shoot free throws well, and he has not done that," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We're going to want him to have the ball most of the time, but especially at the end of a game, and if people are just going to hack him he's going to have to make them pay the price for that."

Okafor is shooting just 54.2 percent from the foul line on the season and has attempted a team-high 155 free throws.

Historically one of the nation's better free-throw shooting teams, the Blue Devils are hitting just 68.7 percent from the charity stripe this season—if they finish the season at that clip, it would be the worst performance from the line for a Duke team since the 1998-99 season. Excluding Okafor, the Blue Devils are shooting 73 percent from the free-throw line this season.

Krzyzewski said he worried Okafor would let a trip to the charity stripe get in his head due to his recent struggles. The freshman has shown flashes of consistency from the line this season, including a 14-for-17 performance in a Jan. 3 win against Boston College. But Saturday night against Syracuse, he received a supportive ovation from the fans at Cameron Indoor Stadium when his seventh and final attempt rolled into the hoop.

"Everyone's clapping for him, I think he's probably embarrassed about that," Krzyzewski said. "He's the best player in the country, so anything that's a little bit wrong—you don't like that."