Sunday, February 2, 2014

Quinnipiac-Siena Game Becomes a "Most Foul" Night

Just when you think you've seen everything that could possibly happen on a basketball court.

Your Hoopscribe has been covering college basketball games, in some form or other, since 1973. The number of games personally attended is probably close to 2,500.

But, the latest, Saturday night when Quinnipiac played Siena at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., was indeed unique in my annals of game attendance.

I had never before seen a game in which 100 free throws were taken.

Quinnipiac, a 103-95 winner in overtime, took 65. Siena took 35. Even my rudimental math skills can confirm that to be 100 foul shots attempted.

The Bobcats made 47-of-65, Siena made 25-of-35.

That's no knock against the officiating done that night by Kevin Ferguson, Will Bush and Doug Aprahamian. It was a solid crew and there were only a few disagreements here by fouls they called.

Quinnipiac has a bruising style of play and Siena attempted to match the Bobcats' level of so-called physicality.

There were a total of 69 fouls called in the game ... Siena had six players disqualified by committing five fouls apiece.

One of Siena's disqualified players was freshman forward Lavon Long, and he had this to say, about the evening's foul festivities:

"It's never been that touchy ever," Long told reporters, afterwards. "They (officials) called a foul for everything, every little thing. Even people not on the play were getting calls for fouls. So, I don't really know what to say about that."

But, we'll have to agree to disagree with Mr. Long's assessment. After all, he was the nation's most foul-plagued player at the Division I level entering the game, having committed 88 fouls in the previous 22 contests (that's four per game) before adding five more to his total against Quinnipiac.

The view from my front-row, center-court seat is that just about every foul called on this night was deserved. There were probably a few fouls left uncalled.

The free throws attempted by Quinnipiac, according to the NCAA, matched the most in a single game this season. Only Morehead State, in a game earlier this season, also took 65 free throws.

While Quinnipiac's foul-line attempts matched this season's best nationally, it did not approach the all-time record of 79 taken in a single game. Nor did the 100 free throws combined by two teams in Saturday's contest approach the NCAA record of 130 in a single contest.

And, Siena's six player disqualifications was two short of the NCAA record of eight. But, not for lack of trying. Siena had two other players commit four foul fouls in the game.

For sure on this night, as Shakespeare wrote in "Hamlet," "Foul deeds will rise."

2 comments:

sienafanallyearlong said...

I don't know what game you were watching? Well deserved? Are you kidding me; from my midcourt seat five rows up Section 120, this was called like a biddy basketball game; not one with adult men on the court. Do you think the great game saving block at the rim in the Duke-Syracuse would have been a block I the MAAC? Absolutely not. They make anticipation calls in the MAAC game in and game out. I also watch a lot of MAC (Not MAAC)games and their referees call a totally different game. Basketball is a physical game and the MAAC referees are turning it into a farce.

Steve Amedio said...

We'll disagree. Sounds like, even five rows up in Section 120 that I had a considerably better seat ... midcourt at the press table, about two feet removed from the court. I've been watching college basketball for 40 years, over 2,500 games. This was the most-physical game I have ever seen. I actually thought there were fouls that went uncalled. The emphasis, this season, is to make the game less physical, to allow some of the athleticism, etc., return to college basketball. Is that a bad thing? Or, would you prefer to see a wrestling match on the court every night. It's up to the officials to make the calls, and to the players to adjust their games so as not to commit so many fouls. Siena coach Jimmy Patsos has admitted on multiple occasions that his young players have yet to figure out how to play aggressively without commiting fouls.