Mason Plumlee was only a 52.8 percent foul shooter as a junior and was seen as a late-game liability because of his inability to make free throws.

Plumlee has made a substantial jump to 76.1 percent this season.

“Maybe last year or the year before, he would avoid contact because he didn’t want to go to the line,” Blue Devils associate head coach Chris Collins said. “Now he goes right through a guy’s chest and goes up there and makes two free throws with a couple of minutes left in the game. It shows a lot about the work he has put in.”

Plumlee’s improved free throw shooting is due in part to a tweaked technique.

“Coach (Mike Krzyzewski) told me last year, ‘don’t even dribble, just get up there, take a breath and let it go,’ Plumlee said. “You know, I like it. That is my routine. My routine is not to dribble, just let it go.”

Plumlee shot as many as 800 free throws a day over the summer.

“It was just a gradual increase,” Plumlee said. “If you did a scatter plot, it would just be a steady slope. There would be days where I would shoot better and days when I would shoot worse than the day before, but I just kept at it.”