Last OP on the subject for me and I'm moving on. Yes we got screwed on a bad no-call and questionable foul call at the end. We should've won the game in spite of that. In the end we got done in by our biggest weakness: Poor situational awareness at the end of games. The same issues that put us out nearly ended this run before it ever got started against NMSU. We had a 7 point lead and possession of the ball with under a minute to play and should have lost. Sure there were some fluky things that happened, but we still fouled a 3 point shooter with seconds to go and were incredibly fortunate when he missed 2 of 3. Then dropped the ball out of bounds giving them another chance and allowed a wide open look at another 3 to win. We saw similar mistakes against Florida in the SECT that could've cost us and we struggled to close out several game during the year with questionable play.
Against UVA we shouldn't have fouled that far up court. I'm going to assume that wasn't the plan. I believe they assumed that Harper would make the free throw and lost focus. When missed, Auburn should've attacked the rebounder immediately and fouled him creating a throw in on the baseline and likely getting the clock to around four seconds. Once Jerome dribbled the ball off his foot, Bryce should've never fouled. Get up on him and let him make the desperation heave that missed, or get on the floor and dive for that ball. If he knocks it away it's over. If he fouls it's on the other side of half-court. Don't foul once he crosses the line. He has no time to do anything except throw it up. Gave them plenty of time for a play. I believe Raftery mentioned Bryce bailed out Jerome. He did. Game was over. Just because we had fouls to give doesn't make it smart to use them anywhere on the court.
Finally on Doughty. Just a really bad play. He's not screened completely out of the play. He's goes with the shooter and takes a terrible angle. All he can do at that point is get close and get his hands up. He got the hands right but jumps from Guy's right side into him, and yes, he made contact before the ball was released. I didn't think it was going to be called in real time and don't think it should be called in that situation considering the how physical that game was. Doughty should've never put himself in that situation, though. The incredibly hard three that Guy made over Doughty right before that shot probably probably got in his head. That shot was defended perfectly. Guy wouldn't make that shot 2 out of 10 times. Of course he made it against us.
Sure the refs screwed up, but we did some damage ourselves.
Against UVA we shouldn't have fouled that far up court. I'm going to assume that wasn't the plan. I believe they assumed that Harper would make the free throw and lost focus. When missed, Auburn should've attacked the rebounder immediately and fouled him creating a throw in on the baseline and likely getting the clock to around four seconds. Once Jerome dribbled the ball off his foot, Bryce should've never fouled. Get up on him and let him make the desperation heave that missed, or get on the floor and dive for that ball. If he knocks it away it's over. If he fouls it's on the other side of half-court. Don't foul once he crosses the line. He has no time to do anything except throw it up. Gave them plenty of time for a play. I believe Raftery mentioned Bryce bailed out Jerome. He did. Game was over. Just because we had fouls to give doesn't make it smart to use them anywhere on the court.
Finally on Doughty. Just a really bad play. He's not screened completely out of the play. He's goes with the shooter and takes a terrible angle. All he can do at that point is get close and get his hands up. He got the hands right but jumps from Guy's right side into him, and yes, he made contact before the ball was released. I didn't think it was going to be called in real time and don't think it should be called in that situation considering the how physical that game was. Doughty should've never put himself in that situation, though. The incredibly hard three that Guy made over Doughty right before that shot probably probably got in his head. That shot was defended perfectly. Guy wouldn't make that shot 2 out of 10 times. Of course he made it against us.
Sure the refs screwed up, but we did some damage ourselves.
