Winnipeg hoops star scores trip to NCAA Tournament with assist from Hall of Famer

Kyler Filewich doesn't go to the free-throw line looking for style points — just those that count on the scoreboard for Wofford.

That's why the 6-foot-9 centre from Winnipeg, who now plays for the Terriers at Wofford College in South Carolina, asked coaches for tips, leading him to switch from the traditional shot attempt to a throwback style.

Granny-style. Underhand toss. Or the shot that Basketball Hall of Fame member Rick Barry turned into an art form.

Barry even came to Spartanburg, S.C., to give Filewich some personal tutoring. While the numbers say Filewich has continued to struggle from the free-throw line, he says his confidence has grown.

"I haven't necessarily always had the success that I wanted," Filewich said Wednesday. "But I feel like I'm pretty confident in it. When I needed to, [about] five minutes left in the SoCon title ... I was able to step up and make two when it mattered."

Filewich's form will be on display for a national audience Thursday night when the Wofford Terriers (19-15) of the Southern Conference play the No. 2 seed Tennessee Volunteers (27-7) in the NCAA Tournament's Midwest Region.

Wofford coach Dwight Perry said Filewich asked for help improving his success rate on foul shots, which was 31.6 per cent last season. Assistant Ty Anderson is friends with one of Barry's sons and reached out.

"People don't realize Rick Barry is the best free-throw shooter statistically in NBA history. So to your point, if you're going to learn from somebody, you definitely want to learn from the best," Perry said.

For the record, when Barry retired in 1980, his 89.98 free-throw percentage was the highest in NBA history, but he was later eclipsed by Mark Price, Canadian Steve Nash, and current Golden State star Stephen Curry, who now tops the list with a 91.12 percentage.

Barry visited the Wofford campus for the kind of teaching session that usually happens in the off-season.

"Rick Barry graciously came and gave his wisdom and kind of gave some pointers," Perry said. "We were very fortunate. It was a couple of days in which they did that in the middle of the season."

Filewich switched to granny style around the beginning of February and found a measure of success, going 4 for 6 and 6 for 10 from the line in consecutive games that month. However, he remains the Terriers' worst free-throw shooter at 31.8 per cent.

In that conference title game, he went 3 of 7 from the line. He was 1 of 5 before he sank two with 5:32 remaining to give the Terriers a five-point lead.

Filewich wasn't the only Wofford player to take something away from Barry's visit. Filewich has been the most obvious thanks to social media with his grip and underhand toss to the basket.

"It's obviously something that's atypical in today's day and age," Perry said. "But to Kyler's credit, he's been fully bought in, and I think it's allowed him to do what we wanted it to do, was to keep him being confident and aggressive on both sides of the floor."

Filewich's confidence is growing each time he practises shooting like Barry.

"I know I can make 'em," Filewich said. "I make them at a high clip in practice. It was great working with Rick Barry. I'm super thankful for him taking his time out to show me how it's done and kind of taking on the mindset of doing whatever it takes to win."