At least the referees were consistently calling fouls, bad or otherwise.
"That was two teams whose offenses were offensive and defenses were aggressive," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. Clever word-play, Mr. Greenberg. I am sure you would have been biting your tongue a bit more, maybe even have received a fine for criticizing the refs.
OP reacted much more placidly to the officiating than I believe Greenberg would have,
“We came in and did some good things. But mentally, [the way the game was called] was a curveball and we didn’t adjust to it good enough. We did not expect the game to be called quite that way, but that will happen from time to time. We just didn’t adjust to it. We are accountable."
Nice save OP. The inclusion of personal accountability hopefully absolves the critical aspect of the game.
However, come on. That game was poorly officiated.
The fact Malcolm Delaney took more free throws than the entire Clemson team is suspect, regardless of how he is playing.
The Tigers shot 30.6% (19-62) from the field, while VT also shot 30.6% (15-49). The Tigers out-rebounded VT 47-35 and had 15 assists to their 5 and 11 blocks. I will not even get into the number of fouls on the team- the refs obviously hated our starting 5.
Booker prepares to miss this dunk (AP via official Clemson Tigers website)
Per the positives in the game, Jerai Grant had another double-double, with 11 points and 15 rebounds, to go along with 4 blocks. Milton Jennings mostly stayed away from the layups he hates so much, taking only one shot, but otherwise played decent in his 9 minutes with 8 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk.
And while it was nice to have Stitt back, he did not seem 100%. I don't know that the rest of the team did either. They played out of sorts; maybe it was the snow; maybe it was the officiating; maybe it was the free tickets for VT students. Who knows?
But now, it will be interesting to see how the Tigers respond to this disappointing loss. It is difficult to play in Blacksburg, but not as difficult as it was made yesterday.
Up next is a three game home-stand against FSU 2/10, Miami 2/13, and UVA 2/20. These games and our home response will define the season.
The Tigers are off to an 0-1 start in the second half of the ACC season. If they continue to shoot this poorly, they will be left out of the NCAA tournament. They can only play through the tough officiating if they hit their shots.
Go Tigers!
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1 comment:
An imbalance in foul counts at the end of a game might indeed be suspect, it is not necessarily a mistake. As much as you might not like Delaney leaning in during or after a shot, the contact has got to be called, and has always been called a foul on the defender. Don't leap at someone to try to block their shot. They might lean your way and get clobbered. Your fault. Jump up to block shots. Don't jump at all if they are coming at you. Play smart basketball.
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