Monday, November 21, 2011

J'Covan Brown's Technical Foul Costs Texas vs NC State

North Carolina State 77, Texas 74
This game was bizarre in more ways than one. Texas had an 18 point second half lead and still looked to be in control up by 13 with 8:25 to go in the game. That's when J'Covan Brown, who has been a star for Texas this season and had already collected 17 points (on 7-for-14 shooting) and 7 assists in the game, was called for his fourth foul. He reportedly told the official he thought the call was "B.S." (or perhaps slightly more colorful language). The ref was unamused and called him for a technical foul, which counted as his fifth foul and took him out of the game. NC State hit the four free throws and was suddenly only down nine with 8:25 to go and the go-to Texas star out of the game for good.

I thought that this game might have been a good opportunity for true freshman Myck Kabongo to take control of the Texas offense in a stressful environment. But instead he looked scared, refusing to attack the rim and just passing it around the perimeter. There was no offensive coherence at all. But despite the fact that NC State eventually came back and looked to have the game in hand heading to the line up by three with around ten seconds to go, the game ended with more strangeness. CJ Leslie missed both free throws, and Texas dribbled around with no clue what to do until Rick Barnes called a timeout with 1.6 seconds to go. Out of the timeout they got an open three for Julien Lewis, who took a shot that looked (from the angle on television) like an obvious goaltend. Rick Barnes looked upset and the refs ran off the floor and everybody watching on television was totally confused. Eventually, replays from other angles showed that it was just a visual illusion and the shot was clearly an airball and there was no goaltending... but, still. Whichever NC State player grabbed the ball like that (I didn't catch a uniform number) - what could they possibly have been thinking? Just a strange way to end the game.

It's back to the drawing board for a Texas team that showed its youth in a big way in this game. Kabongo has to turn into a quality point guard for the Longhorns to win the Big 12. J'Covan Brown, as good as he is, can't do it by himself. The good news for Texas is that they have some time now to collect themselves. Other than a game on the road at UCLA (and honestly, at this point I'm not sure that's going to be a particularly difficult game), Texas should not be seriously challenged until they play Temple on December 17th. NC State, after beating Princeton and Texas, and only narrowly losing to Vanderbilt, looks good in the early going this season. CJ Leslie has taken the next step and become one of the better players in the ACC. They next play Elon on Friday, and then will have an intriguing game against Indiana as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Massachusetts 82, Boston College 46
Reggie Jackson was seated courtside at this game, and by the second half I think Steve Donahue was wondering if he could come up with a disguise to get Jackson into the game, because boy could he have used an offensive playmaker. Donahue put 13 different players into this game, and none was particularly effective. The team is very young and is building for the future, but it's going to be a very long season. They're not good - at all. But this game isn't notable because UMass won, but because they dominated. UMass had as many steals (12) as Boston College had assists, and despite shooting better had nearly twice as many offensive rebounds. Boston College finished with a brutal 0.67 points per possession.

UMass had played a soft schedule prior to this game (and I think it's safe to say they've still played a soft schedule), but has taken care of business in every game, with no game ending with a margin of fewer than 16 points. We'll get a better idea of where this team is next week as they head off to the Bahamas, where they'll open up on Thanksgiving against Florida State. Their second game will be the next day, against either Utah or Harvard. Boston College heads off to the 76 Classic, where they'll just hope not to finish last in the eight team field. They will open on Thanksgiving against Saint Louis. Their second game will be the next day, against either Villanova or UC Riverside.

George Washington 86, Detroit 73
George Washington was probably outplayed in this game, but made up for it with white hot shooting (60% on threes, and a 62.9 eFG%). But it has been a difficult start to the season for Detroit with the indefinite suspension of Eli Holman. The story preseason was that the bluechip duo of Ray McCallum and Eli Holman would make Detroit a true contender in the Horizon League and a potential NCAA Tournament Cinderella. But without Holman they're missing half of that duo, and they've now lost to both Division I teams they've played so far (though to be fair, neither Notre Dame or George Washington is a pushover).

Detroit doesn't have a lot of time to get things turned around. They will play Bowling Green tomorrow, and Austin Peay the next day. Akron is waiting on Saturday. This was a nice bounce-back win for George Washington after being annihilated by California. They have the same opponents as Detroit over the next two days, but in the reverse order. They'll play Austin Peay tomorrow and then Bowing Green the next day. Their next game after that will be at Kansas State on December 1st.

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