2 Big Breaks we caught...

[BigEastPhil]

- Northwestern played entire 2nd half without McIntosh and they in essence had no PG. McIntosh hurt his shoulder at the beginning of the game and then hurt it more severely when he ran into Eugene's pick midway thru the 1st half. It didn't look good as he was clearly favoring his shoulder and hopefully he'll be fine.

- In the Overtime when Vic Law was throwing the ball in to the side of NW's basket, Issa actually deflected the ball with his leg as it deflected right to him. Should have been a dead ball and possession to NW. It was early in the OT and we were either up 3 or 5 points.

Regardless, we were due some breaks!

Go RU!

 

[RU-ROCS]

A third big break, we got to play without Freeman and his obligatory 5 missed layups!

 

[RUonBrain]

I respect the OP, but I really hate to see a post like this.

How many times do our opponents get big breaks, or we get bad breaks, and no one really cares?

Plus...

What kind of a big break did we get when Sanders got hacked on the wrist in the lane and blatant no call?

Sorry OP. No offense!

 

[ScarletDave]

I can tell you 3 bad breaks we got tonight, and they were wearing black and white stripes. Whatever “luck” we may have had was totally negated by those idiots who clearly favored the good ole guard

 

[wheezer]

I respect the OP, but I really hate to see a post like this.

How many times do our opponents get big breaks, or we get bad breaks, and no one really cares?

Plus...

What kind of a big break did we get when Sanders got hacked on the wrist in the lane and blatant no call?

Sorry OP. No offense!

---
Don't you know that there is an unwritten rule
that Corey cannot get fouled driving to the basket?

 

[bac2therac]

- Northwestern played entire 2nd half without McIntosh and they in essence had no PG. McIntosh hurt his shoulder at the beginning of the game and then hurt it more severely when he ran into Eugene's pick midway thru the 1st half. It didn't look good as he was clearly favoring his shoulder and hopefully he'll be fine.

- In the Overtime when Vic Law was throwing the ball in to the side of NW's basket, Issa actually deflected the ball with his leg as it deflected right to him. Should have been a dead ball and possession to NW. It was early in the OT and we were either up 3 or 5 points.

Regardless, we were due some breaks!

Go RU!

yes...but you know what RU has had injuries too and we didnt have Freeman. I dont expect people to cry for RU when their players are out and I never use it as an excuse so I am not crying for Northwestern, they had every opportunity to win this game without the Turtle and they melted down under pressure.

We also got a break on that last shot of regulation, will need to see it again but looked like refs let any contact go..and in general I thought the refs let them played and worked to RUs advantage. Thats why I never get on refs because these things work themselves out.

 

[bac2therac]

A third big break, we got to play without Freeman and his obligatory 5 missed layups!

while obviously Freeman brings a lot to the table... I am not so sure that RU wins this game with him, would have changed alot of the shots that were being taken especially in the 2nd half where a missed or forced shot could have been enough to change the game. This was a game that RU had to focus on even the offense was struggling, would the Freeman of the past several games been able to do that...I dont know

 

[BigEastPhil]

The refs didn't bother me this game....there were missed calls for sure....see my post above on Thiam's soccer move...:)

 

[knights1212]

We got hit several times shooting the ball with no whistle. Corey got hit driving and on the jumper when the guy clearly hit him on the wrist. NW also got the gift goal tend that no one thought was a goal tend plus several other calls.

 

[willisneverrana43]

A third big break, we got to play without Freeman and his obligatory 5 missed layups!

Other than Sanders, RU was 13 for 38.

The problem with focusing on Freeman’s offensive weaknesses, and they are real, is that the rest of the team has them too, mostly worse.

 

[shields]

Plus Mensah scored a basket.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Everyone focuses on shooting which is fine....NW started 13-20 shooting....they finished 23-61....

It was Sa and Eugene fronting in the post...Baker and Sanders working through screens....leaning on Pardon...

Thiam also had a timely deflection at 47-41...should have finished the breakaway but made the FTs ...if you take a couple of the missed wild shots by Doucoure and even if Baker goes 3-11 vs 1-11....then the shooting stats look better.

Holding a team under 60 isn't something you can ask a lot of but doing it in an OT game, is a lot of effort...and I know people are asking if Freeman helps....he does but the ball has to move and Eugene gives a high post presence...the drive to tie @58 in OT....it kept the energy up.

 

[jtung230]

A third big break, we got to play without Freeman and his obligatory 5 missed layups!

Stay classy. We had plenty of missed layups w/o him. Hope he bounces back for senior day.

 

[RUinOhio]

watched the replay a couple of times, didn't think Thiam hit it with his leg. got a hand on it. biggest break was end of regulation. maybe a foul, but horrible shot from one foot.

 

[RUChoppin]

Knew early on that the refs were letting basically everything go last night. I don't know if there was a shooting foul called in the first half - and there was clearly a lot of contact going both ways. Tons of no calls and a definite "let them play" atmosphere, with the requisite scattered ticky-tack calls out of nowhere in the second half just to ensure no one got comfortable with consistent officiating.

I felt early on that it would favor us, as we play a more aggressive defense and don't have a lot of depth - turned out that was true.

Yes, Corey got hacked a *lot* - but he adapted and still came away with 30 points. Yes, there were a handful of "wtf" calls... but I remember a couple where we definitely fouled their player and heard no whistle (most notably the final play of regulation where I think Omoruyi fouled him twice... once before the shot, and once on the shot).

You could fill a book tonight with all the calls that *should* have been made, but weren't.... much fewer calls that *were* made, but shouldn't have been. Of all the types of bad officiating out there, this one tends to be the least irritating.

 

[TobyTyler1]

We got hit several times shooting the ball with no whistle. Corey got hit driving and on the jumper when the guy clearly hit him on the wrist. NW also got the gift goal tend that no one thought was a goal tend plus several other calls.

It was a goaltend , I watched when I got home. Ball hit board first.
Curious call I thought was when Issa was chasing a ball down under nw basket, falling out of bounds, tried to throw it off NW player leg, looked like he clearly did. Ref was standing right next to play called it nw ball. Unless Issa was on line when he grabbed it...

 

[wheezer]

It was a goaltend , I watched when I got home. Ball hit board first.
Curious call I thought was when Issa was chasing a ball down under nw basket, falling out of bounds, tried to throw it off NW player leg, looked like he clearly did. Ref was standing right next to play called it nw ball. Unless Issa was on line when he grabbed it...

----
not saying this happened here, but is it still a goal tend if the ball hits the backboard first, but the ball is still on an upwards trajectory?

 

[wheezer]

NW might have been down a player in the second half, they can point to that if they want.

we have Eugene and Mike back after fairly significant leg injuries..... I suspect that both of them are not at full strength when they play..... Mike does not fly around without the ball, on offense like early in the season

they certainly helped us win, but they might not be all the way back.

 

[Doctor Worm]

----
not saying this happened here, but is it still a goal tend if the ball hits the backboard first, but the ball is still on an upwards trajectory?

Yes. The assumption is that at the instant that the ball hits the backboard, the ball has begun its downward trajectory.

 

[koleszar]

- Northwestern played entire 2nd half without McIntosh and they in essence had no PG. McIntosh hurt his shoulder at the beginning of the game and then hurt it more severely when he ran into Eugene's pick midway thru the 1st half. It didn't look good as he was clearly favoring his shoulder and hopefully he'll be fine.

- In the Overtime when Vic Law was throwing the ball in to the side of NW's basket, Issa actually deflected the ball with his leg as it deflected right to him. Should have been a dead ball and possession to NW. It was early in the OT and we were either up 3 or 5 points.

Regardless, we were due some breaks!

Go RU!

OOoo I'll play. End of game before we tied it up. Clear hit on the wrist of Sanders three point attempt. No foul and exactly how many seconds do you get to inbound the ball? I'm pretty sure it's 5 not 10 before you call a timeout. They were down a player do to injury we were down a player due to disciplinary action. Gee, I wonder which one of these teams has a shorter bench?

 

[richthedentist]

- Northwestern played entire 2nd half without McIntosh and they in essence had no PG. McIntosh hurt his shoulder at the beginning of the game and then hurt it more severely when he ran into Eugene's pick midway thru the 1st half. It didn't look good as he was clearly favoring his shoulder and hopefully he'll be fine.

- In the Overtime when Vic Law was throwing the ball in to the side of NW's basket, Issa actually deflected the ball with his leg as it deflected right to him. Should have been a dead ball and possession to NW. It was early in the OT and we were either up 3 or 5 points.

Regardless, we were due some breaks!

Go RU!

OOoo I'll play. End of game before we tied it up. Clear hit on the wrist of Sanders three point attempt. No foul and exactly how many seconds do you get to inbound the ball? I'm pretty sure it's 5 not 10 before you call a timeout. They were down a player do to injury we were down a player due to disciplinary action. Gee, I wonder which one of these teams has a shorter bench?

The issue I had with the refs is that Northwestern was setting so many illegal picks it was incredible watch again they were not square or stationary and were constantly subtly sticking out there arms and shoulders just enough on every screen that it made it tough for our guys to get through the screen

 

[ColonelRutgers]

Got a break, didn't get a break...the bottom line is the Big Ten officials are absolutely horrible. Been going to games forever and have basically the same seats/view as always and I just find these guys completely inept. Some go in our favor, some do not but there just appear to be at least two officials in each game that have absolutely no clue. Say what you want about the likes of John Cahill, Mickey Crowley, Tim Higgins, et. al. in the Big East and A-10 but they were consistent. I don't know what a foul is anymore from game to game. There used to be only two officials and an alternate. Now there are three and you can guarantee at least once a game the officials have to go to the replay because all three missed something as obvious to everyone in the arena as the ball hitting the rim.

And another thing, that "coach's challenge" at the end of games is b.s. They're just using it as a free timeout, dragging out the endgame even more.

 

[willisneverrana43]

I haven't watched the whole game, but Doorson committed first degree mayhem on a NW player that resulted in a no-call and in-bound that was then stolen by RU. The refs must have forgotten to screw RU on that play because there's no way in hell they didn't see it.

 

[DennisHajekRC84]

It was a goaltend , I watched when I got home. Ball hit board first.
Curious call I thought was when Issa was chasing a ball down under nw basket, falling out of bounds, tried to throw it off NW player leg, looked like he clearly did. Ref was standing right next to play called it nw ball. Unless Issa was on line when he grabbed it...

that was the call..but would have liked a replay...ref was on the other side of end line....

refs were fine...let our bigs play, missed calls both ends....evened out. no issue.

 

[DennisHajekRC84]

I can tell you 3 bad breaks we got tonight, and they were wearing black and white stripes. Whatever “luck” we may have had was totally negated by those idiots who clearly favored the good ole guard

Dave, I know you have issues with the reffing (so do I most games)...but last night was 12-18 fouls in RU's favor. 12! ..NW didn't even get to the bonus 1 half.

I'll take it...bout time. Now they need to just give Corey some love.

 

[RUsince52]

We won because NW basically played like us at the end and OT. They only had a couple baskets in the final 12 minutes. Except for FTs, one and done trips.

 

[RU-ROCS]

Other than Sanders, RU was 13 for 38.

The problem with focusing on Freeman’s offensive weaknesses, and they are real, is that the rest of the team has them too, mostly worse.

Agreed. But the rest of the team is not a 5th year senior captain, who gets benched for some team violation, who too often dogs it on defense, and who takes way too many ill advised shots when he's double teamed. I also did not enjoy seeing him sulking on the bench, when the rest of his team was standing and urging on their teammates at crunch time.

 

[willisneverrana43]

I don't see much dogging it from Freeman. And I saw him standing with his arms in the air toward the end of regulation cheering on the comeback and fiving players coming to the bench in OT.

I'd hesitate strongly to crap all over his work ethic. I've seen him busting his butt an awful lot and have seen him doing community service as a team rep. If he violated a team rule and was benched, fine. Enforce the rules. But don't add him to the list of players who get "effort" and "attitude" digs. This is a guy who generally brings the effort big time.

As to his play, sure, criticize that. He scores on the low blocks and, yet, has big trouble down low in the B1G. Why? Talent level and size. But he's as good as we have down low. He boards, and he hustles. Eugene may be better, or least driving down low--but he's not really a post-up guy. Gettys was--to some extent. He's gone. Now it's basically only Freeman--as undersized and talent-challenged as he may be. But complaints about his play and difficulty scoring are really just complaints about an overall scoring-challenged team. He's what we have.

 

[DennisHajekRC84]

Agreed. But the rest of the team is not a 5th year senior captain, who gets benched for some team violation, who too often dogs it on defense, and who takes way too many ill advised shots when he's double teamed. I also did not enjoy seeing him sulking on the bench, when the rest of his team was standing and urging on their teammates at crunch time.

yes I'll second the feedback here from Willis. Freeman was caught "looking at his fingernails" earlier on TV but 2nd half he was right there in it and doing the right thing with his teamates.

 

[Local Shill]

I can tell you 3 bad breaks we got tonight, and they were wearing black and white stripes. Whatever “luck” we may have had was totally negated by those idiots who clearly favored the good ole guard

Try not to be as ridiculous as usual. A school who had zero NCAA appearances until last year is hardly the "old guard." Even RU has more basketball history than them.

 

[RU-ROCS]

I don't see much dogging it from Freeman. And I saw him standing with his arms in the air toward the end of regulation cheering on the comeback and fiving players coming to the bench in OT.

I'd hesitate strongly to crap all over his work ethic. I've seen him busting his butt an awful lot and have seen him doing community service as a team rep. If he violated a team rule and was benched, fine. Enforce the rules. But don't add him to the list of players who get "effort" and "attitude" digs. This is a guy who generally brings the effort big time.

As to his play, sure, criticize that. He scores on the low blocks and, yet, has big trouble down low in the B1G. Why? Talent level and size. But he's as good as we have down low. He boards, and he hustles. Eugene may be better, or least driving down low--but he's not really a post-up guy. Gettys was--to some extent. He's gone. Now it's basically only Freeman--as undersized and talent-challenged as he may be. But complaints about his play and difficulty scoring are really just complaints about an overall scoring-challenged team. He's what we have.

I have no basis to question the kid's character, which I assume is solid or Pike would not have named him captain. But, we just see different things on the court. I think Freeman is way to selfish of an offensive player, his body language is often not befitting of a captain (e.g., when he makes a bad pass, he looks to blame his teammates), and for a 5th year senior his effort on the defensive end is NOT consistent. His inability to make so many chip shots is also infuriating, but I'll admit that this shortfall is more based on his (under) size and talent rather than effort. However, too many of those misses are because he's forcing up ill-advised shots against double-teams. The only A he gets from me is for rebounding, which he almost always does consistently.

 

[willisneverrana43]

An A for rebounding is probably enough. But, yes, he takes ill-advised shots. Yes, he misses chip shots. Yes, he strings together misses. Yet, he's as good as we have down low.

The problem is that the whole team can't shoot. That's what makes RU 343 out of 351 in shooting percentage. Geo has a lower FG% than Freeman. The problem is that we see more of Freeman, since he starts. If Pike played some of the other guys 25 minutes, you'd pull your hair out.

Freeman's as good as we have down low. We need to get better talent and/or wait for someone like Duke to get better at it. That's it. That talent pool is why we are trying to fight our way out of the B1G cellar.

 

[TDIrish27]

I would never make the call but the NW kid got fouled on the inbound pass at the end of regulation.

 

[RUChoppin]

Geo has a lower FG% than Freeman. The problem is that we see more of Freeman, since he starts.

Not really fair to compare a PF and a G from a FG% perspective.

I looked through the 24 forwards in the league who have played in a majority of their team's games and see at least 20 min per game.... Freeman (.399) is one of just two shooting below .450 (the other being Northwestern's Law at .419). 14 of 24 are shooting over .500

 

[blockm2]

Got a break, didn't get a break...the bottom line is the Big Ten officials are absolutely horrible. Been going to games forever and have basically the same seats/view as always and I just find these guys completely inept. Some go in our favor, some do not but there just appear to be at least two officials in each game that have absolutely no clue. Say what you want about the likes of John Cahill, Mickey Crowley, Tim Higgins, et. al. in the Big East and A-10 but they were consistent. I don't know what a foul is anymore from game to game. There used to be only two officials and an alternate. Now there are three and you can guarantee at least once a game the officials have to go to the replay because all three missed something as obvious to everyone in the arena as the ball hitting the rim.

And another thing, that "coach's challenge" at the end of games is b.s. They're just using it as a free timeout, dragging out the endgame even more.

basketball refs do not belong to a conference. They all officiate in multiple conferences. Essentially free agents that schedule their own games. TV Teddy does games in the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, A10, AAC, and many others. So those refs aren't calling a foul one way in a Big Ten game and then another way tomorrow night in an ACC game.

 

[willisneverrana43]

Not really fair to compare a PF and a G from a FG% perspective.

I looked through the 24 forwards in the league who have played in a majority of their team's games and see at least 20 min per game.... Freeman (.399) is one of just two shooting below .450 (the other being Northwestern's Law at .419). 14 of 24 are shooting over .500

Yeah, I get the guard v. PF comparison. But of course Geo's shooting percentage isn't good. Just as the shooting percentage of RU as a team isn't good. It's the worst in the league--by far. It's not just Freeman.

 

[RU-ROCS]

Not really fair to compare a PF and a G from a FG% perspective.

I looked through the 24 forwards in the league who have played in a majority of their team's games and see at least 20 min per game.... Freeman (.399) is one of just two shooting below .450 (the other being Northwestern's Law at .419). 14 of 24 are shooting over .500

Agree 100%. Unlike jump shooting guards, top-notch college PFs shoot closer to 60% (especially if they don't generally take 3 point shots). For example - IU’s Morgan 59%, UN’s Roby 56%, MSU’s Ward 69%, UM’s Fernando 57%, PSU’s Watkins 70% - you get the picture.
Freeman is not anywhere near that neighborhood.

 

[willisneverrana43]

Yeah, please list for me the RU players at any position near the top of their position's shooting percentage. You're off on a tangent. The whole team doesn't shoot well.

 

[RUChoppin]

Yeah, I get the guard v. PF comparison. But of course Geo's shooting percentage isn't good. Just as the shooting percentage of RU as a team isn't good. It's the worst in the league--by far. It's not just Freeman.

Freeman is much farther below the line for a F than Baker is below the line for a G, but I agree that Baker's FG% isn't great for a guard, either. It has definitely dropped off in conference once the competition stepped up and the scouting report was out on him.

I just looked at the ESPN "Big Ten FG% leaders" list (must play 75% of games, and avg at least 5 shots/game), and broke it out by position.
Average FG% for a F/C was 52.5% across the 26 players that made the list (24 F & 2 C)
- Omoruyi is 21st with 45.2%
- Freeman is 26th with 39.9%.

Average FG% for a G was 42.6% across 40 players that made the list
- Thiam is 17th with 42.2%
- Sanders is 31st with 38.4%
- Baker is 33rd with 38.1%.

I agree that the whole team doesn't shoot well. Comparing Freeman's shooting to Baker's, though, is way off base.

 

[RU-ROCS]

Yeah, please list for me the RU players at any position near the top of their position's shooting percentage. You're off on a tangent. The whole team doesn't shoot well.

I think you are missing the point. The very best guards in the league - Bridges, Edwards, etc. - shoot it at around 47% and our guards shoot 38%. The best PF's in the league shot it around 57% and our guy Freeman shoots 39%. So, he is much further from the best than our guards are. That is the point I and Choppin were trying to make.