How can Duke turn its season around? First, look to the free throw line.

For all of Duke’s shortcomings while starting the season with as many losses as wins through 10 games, the focus of improvement lies with wide-open shots.

Not gaps in defense, mind you, but the unguarded attempts that occur when the clock is stopped.

Free throws.

The Blue Devils aren’t shooting as many free throws as they want, and their opponents are shooting too many.

In the midst of a three-game losing streak, those foul shots are the coaching staff’s top concern as they get the team ready to face Georgia Tech at 9 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN) at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“It’s one of the differences between winning and losing,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Monday while speaking with reporters during an ACC weekly Zoom video call.

Lately, it’s led to losses. During the Blue Devils’ three-game skid, the opposition has scored nine points per game more from the free throw line. Duke lost 74-67 at Virginia Tech, 79-73 at Pittsburgh and 70-65 at Louisville.

To be clear, Krzyzewski does not think subpar officiating has anything to do with this disparity. He went out of his way to say that both in Saturday’s postgame comments after the Louisville game and again on Monday.

Rather, the Blue Devils (5-5, 3-3 ACC) need to defend better to avoid fouling while making the plays on offense that earn them more free chances at points.

“We have to learn how not to foul and how to get fouled,” Krzyzewski said.

It’s a problem Krzyzewski rarely has needed to tackle.

Made free throws only account for 13.5% of Duke’s points this season. The national average is 18.5%, leaving Duke No. 335 among Division I teams.

From the 2001-02 season until the 2016-17 season, Duke’s percentage only fell below 20% in one season, according to KenPom.com.

Last season, Duke scored 19.6% of its points at the free throw line.

In part of his deep analysis of college basketball teams, Ken Pomeroy uses four factors for each team. One of the factors looks at free throws attempted, then divided by field goal attempts, as a way to judge the effectiveness of offensive play.

This season, that percentage is 23.7% for Duke while the national average is 32.2%.

By comparison, going back to the 1996-97 season, Duke’s percentage has never been lower than 33.2%. It has been above 40% in 12 seasons. Duke’s 2015 NCAA championship team’s percentage was 39.8%.

Krzyzewski said the Blue Devils are working hard on this topic at both ends of the court.

But focusing on offense, part of it is roster construction. Krzyzewski said this year’s Blue Devils are a group “whose games don’t naturally lend themselves to getting fouled.”

Unlike last season when 6-foot-10 center Vernon Carey was fouled an average of 7.9 times per game, Duke has no strong post presence like that this season. Freshman forward Jalen Johnson has been fouled 5.1 times per game, tops on this season’s Blue Devils. Guard Jeremy Roach is next at 3.7 fouls per game.

Looking at the perimeter, it would help if Roach or fellow freshman DJ Steward, just to name two players, could get to the line more.

“The other way you get fouled is by driving the ball,” Krzyzewski said. “We have not driven into resistance as strongly or as physically as we need to.”

Duke has scored 73.6 points per game this season, which is No. 140 nationally. The Blue Devils scored 82.5 points per game last season, No. 2 in the country.

So the lack of scoring has played a role in the Blue Devils winning fewer games this season. To change the season’s direction, the free throw line could be one way to fix that.

“We’re working on it,” Krzyzewski said. “Actually we worked on it when the kids came in this morning before class. They have been very committed and trying to work on it.”