Isaiah Evans has legit but bizarre excuse for Duke basketball free throw woes

The Duke basketball team is not a good free throw shooting team.

When they connect on a high percentage during a game it’s more of an aberration than skill, sitting at 70.8-percent which is No. 226 in the country out of 365 teams.

In its 71-56 victory over California on Wednesday night, the Blue Devils went 8-for-17 from the free throw line and following the game Isaiah Evans tried to explain to the television broadcast about the team’s struggles at the line.

“The evolution ball is not my favorite,” he said. “I wouldn’t lie to you. I wouldn’t make no excuses. We love that Nike ball, but you know, obviously, we just have to play through it.”

Duke shot 45-percent from the floor and 22-percent from 3-point range in the game.

At home, the team uses a Nike issued basketball while it must adjust to the sponsor of other teams on the road. Against Cal, the teams used a Wilson Evolution ball.

For the season the Blue Devils are connecting on 49.5-percent of its attempts from the field and 34.6-percent from 3-point range. Evans finished with 17 points against the Golden Bears, making 6-of-15 shots from the floor, 4-of-13 from 3-point range, and 1-of-3 at the free throw line.

Duke is currently shooting 50.7-percent from the field at home and 48.3-percent on the road and its free throw percentage is 72.0-percent at home and 69.7-percent on the road.

The gaps in the shooting numbers don’t seem too drastic to blame on the style of basketball, especially from the free throw line. Only its 3-point shooting numbers are at a near identical percentage at 34.8 and 34.4-percent at home and on the road, respectively.

Regardless of the basketball brand, Duke has been able to overcome some of its free throw shooting woes this season and will look to be the first ACC team this year to sweep the California road trip with a victory over Stanford on Saturday afternoon (6:00 p.m. ET, ACC Network).