Print edition: 
LAWRENCE — Before a Kansas basketball player can leave the practice floor, he has to make 25 of 30 free throws or else he will be forced to run. So if the Jayhawks are all capable of making 83 percent of their attempts from the line, why are they shooting 65 percent as a team through seven games?
Take KU sophomore Marcus Morris as a case study. He said he has never had to run for missing free throws in practice. Yet, Morris has made 20 of 31 attempts in games, good for 64.5 percent. He is not making excuses, but he would like to point out that it's harder to make them during games.
"It is a lot different," Morris said. "You're kind of rushed a little bit. There's a lot more distractions. You gotta zone that out."
One of the distractions for the Morris twins is often their mother, Angel, who attends all of their games at Allen Fieldhouse. Apparently, nothing gets under Angel's skin more than a missed free throw from one of her boys.
"I always hear my mom saying 'Bend your knees,' " Marcus said. "That's the only thing I can't block out. That annoys her a lot. I think that's the only thing she knows about basketball."
On the road, distractions follow the top-ranked Jayhawks, too. At UCLA, a man was running around behind the basket wearing a blue afro, screaming. Marcus was glad he didn't have to shoot a free throw.
"I might have airballed, honestly," Marcus said.
Markieff Morris, who made 3 of 5 attempts from the line, saw it differently.
"I paid him no mind," Markieff said.
Markieff, at 73 percent, joins Xavier Henry (91) and Tyrel Reed (75) as the only three Jayhawks who are making at least 70 percent of their free throws. Sherron Collins is down from 80 percent last year to 69 percent this year; Tyshawn Taylor is down from 72 percent last year to 63 percent this year; and Cole Aldrich is down from 79 percent to 63 percent.
"We've obviously not shot them very well," KU coach Bill Self said. "We probably haven't given it the attention early in the preseason that we should."
Some coaches don't like to make a big deal out of free-throw struggles because they don't want it to get into their players' heads.
"I don't ignore it," Self said, "but it's not something I'm going to call a lot of attention to."
Self will continue to challenge the Jayhawks to make free throws in pressure situations at practice. He will often pull a player from the group and issue an edict that nobody on the team can leave practice until that player has made five or 10 free throws in a row.
The other day, Self chose freshman Thomas Robinson, whom Marcus identified as the guy who runs the most because of troubles at the line. Robinson, who is making 43 percent of his attempts in games, needed to make five in a row. He made four straight before Self approached and tried to distract him.
"(Self) started grabbing him, saying 'You got a nice body,' " Markieff said, laughing. "Thomas missed the last one."
