Free-throw shooting is the simplest part of the game of basketball to understand but the act itself comes easy for some and nearly impossible for others – just ask Shaquille O’Neal.
The technique taught at basketball camps back in my day was the B.E.E.F method. Balance, eyes, elbow, follow-through. As you get further in your basketball career, a coach may tell you to pick a spot at the center of the free-throw line and line it up with the center of the backboard. Sure, the pressure mounts, your hands get sweaty and things can go awry. Who hasn’t airballed a foul shot in front of a Catholic school auditorium filled with 50 people on a Saturday morning?
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Purdue Boilermakers forward Kendall Puryear looks down court Thursday, June 19, 2025, during practice at Purdue University’s Cardinal Court in West Lafayette, Ind. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Finding that balance and getting the technique down pat is important. It’s why South Florida Bulls women’s basketball center Kendall Puryear caught people off guard on Monday against the Furman Paladins.
Puryear went to the foul line in the second quarter with 3:54 left in the first half. She took her time and jolted upward, looking as though she was going to shoot her shot like any other player but instead cocked back her right arm and chucked the basketball toward the basket.
She missed both foul shots – the only two she took in the Bulls’ 80-54 win – and finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and three steals in 28 minutes.
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Purdue Boilermakers forward Kendall Puryear backpedals during a women’s college basketball game between the USC Trojans and the Purdue Boilermakers on Jan. 22, 2025, at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
But it was the strange shooting motion that took over social media.
Puryear, a junior, spent the first two seasons of her collegiate career with the Purdue Boilermakers before she transferred to South Florida. She averaged 6.6 points and 3.2 rebounds during the 2025-26 season with Purdue.
Over her career, Puryear is shooting 57% from the free-throw line.
Purdue sophomore Kendall Puryear (22) shoots a jumper during the NCAA women’s basketball game between Eastern Illinois and Purdue on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. Purdue won 82-67. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
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She was a McDonald’s All-American Game nominee and a finalist for Miss Show-Me Basketball in Missouri.