Tasmania JackJumpers star Will Magnay on poor free-throw shooting against New Zealand

A Tasmania JackJumpers star has spoken openly about an area of his game he wants to improve on.

Will Magnay shot just 5-14 from the free throw line in the loss to New Zealand on Friday night. (Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)

JackJumpers star Will Magnay has laid bare his free throw frustrations following a poor night at the line in Friday night’s loss to New Zealand.

The impactful big man has made a serious difference since his return from injury this season and while he was one of Tasmania’s better performers (15 points, eight rebounds and two assists) in the four-point loss to the Breakers, Magnay went at just 35 per cent from the foul line.

Shooting 5-14 from almost 24 minutes game time, Magnay’s percentage this season sits at 53.8, admitting it was still an area of his game that requires improvement.

Magnay missed over five months earlier this year with injury but has made a massive impact since returning to the JackJumpers line-up. (Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)

“(It’s) very (frustrating),” Magnay said.

“It’s not like I don’t work on them. I make 50, I make 20 in a row after practice, so I shoot a lot of them.

“I think I just get in my head a little sometimes and overthink it so the next progression of my game is to build some more confidence in that area.

“It sucks and it hurts, and I feel like a lot of that loss is my fault, but you take that with the good and the bad and try to brush it off and move onto next week.”

Since returning to the line-up earlier this season, Magnay has split minutes alongside fellow big man Marcus Lee but with vice-captain Fabijan Krslovic and mid-season recruit Tom Vodanovich also available, it leaves coach Scott Roth with a plethora of big man options.

“Like we’ve said all season we have such a deep rotation of bigs in our team and Scott (Roth) is going to rotate as he wants to rotate,” Magnay said.

“I thought Marcus (Lee) was really good tonight and ‘Fab’ had some good minutes. You sort of just play as hard as you can and trust the next man is going to come in and do his job and if Scott wants to play me more, I’ll go as hard as I can until I can’t go anymore.”

Marcus Lee continues to improve with every game he plays for the JackJumpers. (Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)

While personally disappointed with his own game, Roth was quick to praise Magnay’s impact despite his poor night at the line.

“He (Magnay) is very impactful for us and protects the paint,” Roth said.

“He has size and strength and toughness and we love what he has been doing. He has really improved this year around the post and scoring around there and being a little surer of himself.

“Hopefully he can continue to work on his foul shooting. That’s something I know that he knows he has to take care of, but when he is on the floor he is super impactful for us.”

The JackJumpers will next face Cairns on Thursday night before returning home to MyState Bank Arena against Adelaide on Sunday.