Rutgers Loses to Georgetown 52-50; Rice to Meet with Big East?
by Dave White on Jan 22, 2012 7:55 AM EST
in Rutgers basketball
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PrintOnce again the Scarlet Knights went toe to toe with a top ten team. They battled the entire game, without their best offense, and even held a 7 point lead in the middle of the second half. But a bunch of mental errors, no-calls, and phantom fouls kept Rutgers out of the win column. Now 11-9 overall and 3-4 in the Big East, the young team is continuing to learn and mature.
It's just a shame the game was taken out of their hands.
More after the jump...
With 25 seconds left, and the game tied and 50, Georgetown began to run its offense. The clock ticked down to 8 seconds, and the Hoyas began to move the ball. Then a whistle. Mike Poole was called for a touch foul under the basket. Otto Porter went to the line and sank both free throws. Rutgers brought the ball down and Eli Carter missed a runner in the lane to tie.
It was that kind of afternoon for Rutgers. They were called for a ton of ticky tack fouls--a push-off by Eli Carter late really seemed to get Mike Rice's temper going--while Georgetown was able to manhandle RU's big men down low. At one point, Derrick Randall was mugged 3 times in a row under the basket--no call. On another possession, Greg Lewis gave one of the Hoyas a piggyback ride. No call. If the game was called consistently, Rutgers would have won this one going away.
Instead, the Hoyas went to the free throw line 36 times. The Scarlet Knights only 7.
In Big East play, Rutgers has been called for 54 more fouls than its opponents. According to Brendan Prunty, Coach Rice plans to meet with Big East officials to discuss this. This has been an ongoing concern. Last year on the road at Syracuse, Rutgers was called for a ton of fouls in a close game. At St. John's, Rutgers was on the losing end of the foul calls. And their was the famous end of the Big East game. Even this year's USF game had a questionable "blocking" call on Gilvydas Biruta, which should have been a charge. Two likely wins taken away by referees this season. Until the team starts to consistently win, they are going to have to beat both the refs and the opposing team.
That's not to say this entire game falls on the referees. Rutgers played poorly offensively down the stretch. Up 5 with just under 2 minutes to go, Dane Miller turned the ball over leading to a Hoya fast break. On the final possession, Carter refused to pass the ball, making the team very easy to defend.
The team defense was fantastic. Georgetown shot only 13 percent in the first half, and RU forced plenty of turnovers. The defense was reminiscent of the Pittsburgh game earlier this year. If the refs had let them play, Rutgers would have won this game by double digits. It's a tough pill to swallow for Rutgers fans. Had they won this game, the NCAA talk could have legitimately started. Instead, they're back at square one.
Next up is a must-win against DePaul, Wednesday at the RAC. With the luck, Rice's meeting will work and the Scarlet Knights will get some beneficial whistles.
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The BE wil say
“Sorry, Mike. We have to protect our high-ranking teams. If G’town loses, we lose a #2 or 3 seed.”
I never saw a replay of the Mike Poole foul.
SNY didn’t even bother to replay it. I was busy watching the ball like everyone else.
LSU game is on the refs too
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Co-Manager/Writer for Pinstripe Alley, Editor/Writer for Blueshirt Banter
by Brandon C. on Jan 22, 2012 10:22 AM EST via iPhone app reply actions
The Big East and Georgetown should be ashamed of themselves
this game is tainted. It was stolen. They are a national disgrace.
That’s not really on Georgetown, is it? They shouldn’t challenge calls in favor of them?
Follow me on twitter @nyybrandonc
Co-Manager/Writer for Pinstripe Alley, Editor/Writer for Blueshirt Banter
Agreed, if a ref is letting you get away with murder, then you pull out a gun and start shooting people. JT3 played it smart: do what you can to stop the ball because nothing is getting called.
by Daniel Joseph on Jan 22, 2012 12:11 PM EST up reply actions
I don't get the complaining.
It’s funny because fouling on the defensive end was clearly your team’s strategy and coach Rice seems to admit he was fine with all the foul until the last two minutes where he apparently expected the Refs to stop calling fouls. The refs called the game the same way on both ends the whole game. You guys did not adjust to the way the game was called and has been called in the big east all year. They’ve been calling it tight on the perimeter and while posting up, but swallowing their whistles in the paint on lay ups. It’s been like that every game so far this year. Players and teams have to adjust. And I’m glad the refs did not swallow their whistle down the stretch. If it’s a foul 8 seconds into the game it’s still a foul with 8 seconds left in the game. Fans and broadcasters say they should swallow their whistle down the stretch because it makes the game more exciting, but it’s completely unfair to not call a foul just because it’s late in the game. Refs need to call a foul if they see one regardless of how much time is left on the clock. Winning a game on 2 free throws instead of a last second shot isn’t as sexy or exciting, but that shouldn’t influence the way the refs call the game.
by hoyasincebirth on Jan 22, 2012 12:12 PM EST reply actions
hoyasincebirth
… I, for one, am shocked that you have taken the stance you did.
Look, it isn’t consistent. They weren’t calling it tight. Eli Carter was hitting shots and getting shoved nearly every time. Why were we not getting +1s if they were “calling it tight?” Why were our bigs getting called for fouls if they were “swallowing their whistles in the paint?”
You have a right to defend your team, but look at the numers. If they were swallowing whistles in the paint, why did G’Town shoot so many free throws?
by Daniel Joseph on Jan 22, 2012 12:15 PM EST up reply actions
lol
Clearly our strategy? Go watch the post game press conference. Watch Rices reaction to someone asking him if it was his intent to foul that often.
Very last foul was a joke, Georgetown was shit all game and the refs knew it. So they put them on the line for a ticky tack call away from the ball. How do you not even make Georgetown take a shot to win the game??? Oh yea cause they couldn’t make one yesterday. I love when fans cant admit they got one handed to them.
Almost all of Rutger's fouls were on the ground
That was my point they weren’t calling a lot of the contact when players went up for shots near the hoops but they were calling all the holding an pushing before a player received the ball. Most of the fouls against your big men were before our players even got the ball.
All season long this is how refs have been calling games in the BE. They let a lot of go when you’re shooting but they’re calling a lot more reach in fouls and pushing and holding while trying to establish position. Arguably it should be the other way around, but this seems to be the way they’re calling games in the BE this year.
You guys absolute play to the strategy of holding and bumping us to disrupt our offense and it worked for the most part. Sometimes refs let that illegal contact go, but this game they called you for those fouls and yes they absolutely were fouls.
There were plenty of missed and bad calls that went against us too, I was upset all game at the refs for their bad calls: Missed a goal tending against Rutgers, mysterious travel call against Whittington on a defensive rebound, terrible block call on Stark’s for his 4th. I think the Refs called about 75% of all the fouls that each team committed, you just foul a lot more than we do. The season statistics show this. You’re 12th in the nation in fouls committed. I’m surprised you’re surprised when this is how you play. You guys had a very similar foul disparity in your game against WV so this isn’t even the first time this has happened.
by hoyasincebirth on Jan 22, 2012 2:38 PM EST up reply actions
I agree the refs weren't great, but...
There were several occasions where Rutgers big guys were missing point-blank shots. It’s because they were surrounded by 3-4 Gtown players and were getting the crap swatted out of them. I don’t care what you say, every single one of those players was not getting all ball. They were hitting arms, backs, heads. It was clear they were getting mugged and weren’t getting calls. I remember one instance in particular where Randall grabbed a rebound, went up, got drilled twice, still made the basket but didn’t get the call.
36-7 is an absurd discrepancy. It defies logic. The Hoyas are a good team but they aren’t perfect and they hardly played a foul-free game warranting only 7 trips to the line. The Carter push-off foul was a joke, especially since Clark was holding him.
Nonsense
Every G’town fan around me when the game was over came up to me and said “Sorry for the loss man, you guys deserved to win that game.” Everyone in the arena, RU or G’town fan, knew the refs were atrocious. Congrats on the win, but I suggest you think twice before you come on this blog and try to spin the result of the game when it is obvious that is not what happened.
Just trying to educate you on reality
I think the refs called it consistently on both ends of the floor and called it the way all of Georgetown’s big east games have been called. Refs this season have let teams get away with murder on lay up attempts not calling lots of obvious contact when going to the rim, but they’ve been very ticky tacky on the perimeter and when jockeying for position. Players have to learn to adapt to the way the refs call the game. If you watched the game most of the fouls called against rutgers were on the floor not and 1’s. They didn’t call contact against rutgers when we were shooting lay ups.
There were plenty of bad calls going against and not called against both teams. Some bad calls that went against Georgetown. 1) Rutgers blocked a shot that was on the backboard should have been goaltending, 2) Travel call on Greg Whittington on a defensive rebound, 3) Terrible blocking call against Markel Starks for his 4th when he was clearly set, 4) Moving screen by rutgers to free up Eli Carter for the 3 down the stretch. Plenty of bad calls both ways.
But rutgers fouls a lot. There should be no surprise at the discrepancy. Rutgers is 12th in the nation in fouls committed. Rutgers came into the game averaging 21 fouls per game an their opponents committing 18 fouls per game. Rutgers had out fouled 15 of their 19 opponents. Rutgers had never committed less than 17 fouls in a game, while they have 3 other games where they were fouled 14 times or less. They have had 2 other games this season with double digit differences in fouls: 30-15 and 31-20. So this is not new for them. Georgetown is 98th in FTA/FGA and 125th in Opponents FTA/FGA both stats better than average. Rutgers is 201st and 311th respectively. Aka Georgetown fouls less than average and does a better than average job getting to the free throw line. Rutgers does a poor job getting to the free throw line and puts people on the free throw line a lot. You should get used to the foul differentials because they will continue to happen if you chose to defend the way you do.
by hoyasincebirth on Jan 23, 2012 7:25 PM EST up reply actions
So what Hoya is saying is that the refs called ticky-tac hand fouls off ball consistently all game against us and swallowed their whistle when we got hacked in the lane. Thank you for clearing that up.
by StyleKnight on Jan 23, 2012 11:19 AM EST up reply actions
Perhaps, Mike Rice knew the Hoyas struggled from the charity stripe the past few games? Therefore it'd backfired on him...Anyways Rutgers will be force to reckoned with soon!
You have a right to defend your team, but look at the numers. If they were swallowing whistles in the paint, why did G’Town shoot so many free throws?
It wasn't so much the fouls called on RU on defense
As much as RU did not get the same calls on the other end. If it’s a foul in the first 8, it’s a foul in the last 8. Okay, I agree with that, but at the same time, if it’s a foul on one end, it’s also a foul on the other end. Lewis, Randall, and Seagears were mugged several times and no call.
Also, for the record,
G’Town has two stretches in the game of over 6 minutes a piece where they went without a foul. That’s nearly impossible.
Cuse Fan
I have to agree, officiails were terrible and took the game away from the kids. I hate to see games decided by the officials. As a die hard sports fan, it seems that the officiating is getting worse, or maybe it’s just that the technology is better and we see my games and there are more angles. My condolences, your kids played hard and deserved better.
Thanks. Sorry about your loss as well!
Follow me on twitter @nyybrandonc
Co-Manager/Writer for Pinstripe Alley, Editor/Writer for Blueshirt Banter
telling a Cuse fan sorry for their loss....
you’ve lost any sympathy I might have had for the allegedly bad call (I didn’t see the foul and they didn’t replay it anyplace)
I do think Coach Rice’s strategy does involve a lot of fouling and he’s basically admitted this, saying he doesn’t think there’s a conspiracy to call more fouls on Rutgers. So its a question of Rutgers deliberately or not, not adjusting their play and thus racking up the fouls. One downside to playing like that is you’re not going to get the benefit of the doubts on the foul call. Reputation matters (its just human nature).
It works the other way too. I see teams like Cuse and WVU seemingly get the benefit of a lot of foul calls, because their coaches work the refs and the teams are known to play tough defense without fouling.
by SomebodyBuyAustinaSteak on Jan 23, 2012 11:16 AM EST up reply actions
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