My Two Cents: Sure It Was a Foul on Final Play, But That Happens All the Time
EVANSTON, Ill. — I have been a crazy basketball fan since I was a little kid, and it's always been my favorite sport to watch. I was locked in to the Indiana 1975 to 1993 run, and never missed a game, either working or just as a fan in my non-writing days.
I grew up in northwest Indiana, and was also a huge Chicago Bulls fan. The Michael Jordan decade with the Bulls was my all-time favorite basketball experience. Six world championships in eight years, and I never missed a single game. I didn't ever cover the NBA, so I could just be a fan, and it was wonderful.
The Bulls, they were my team. And Michael Jordan, he's my all-time favorite basketball player. He is the GOAT, and you'll die on that vine trying to fight me about it.
And because I watched every minute of Jordan's career, including all six NBA Finals series, I am an expert on many things.
And that includes, Michael's ability to ''clear space,'' to get off a shot. He did it all the time, and got away with it. The most notable move came in the 1998 NBA Finals, when he beat Byron Russell on a move, and got up the game-winning that won his sixth and final title.
I'll die on that vine, too, saying he didn't do anything wrong. That's basketball.
I've argued for two decades now with many people that what Jordan did was perfectly fine. Russell was going hard in one direction, and Jordan simply used his hip to stop and go up for the shot.
So, yes, I am an expert on pushing off.
And even though it might be somewhat hypocritical, I can tell you this for sure. Northwestern guard Boo Buie ABSOLUTELY pushed off on the final play Wednesday night, and his basket gave Northwestern a 64-62 win in Evanston.
It absolutely should have been a foul.
We've known through two games this season that Buie and his Northwestern running mate, guard Chase Audige, are terrific at attacking the basket. They are a handful. That's why they are alone in second place right now.
On that final drive, it was Trey Galloway's duty to stop Buie when he headed down the lane on that last possession. Buie lowered his shoulder into Galloway's chest — which, to me, is NOT a foul on its own. People do that all the time, including a lot of Indiana players. Trayce Jackson-Davis is great and getting his right shoulder into a post defender's chest and then spinning around him or going over him as the defender leans back.
But was Buie did next absolutely deserved to be a foul. He used his arm to clear out even more space, shoving Galloway backward. Galloway not only lost contact with Buie, but he also then got in the way of Trayce Jackson-Davis, who was sliding over to block the shot.
The shot block didn't happen. And Northwestern won.
Indiana coach Mike Woodson didn't really talk about the play after the game, other than saying there was no call and giving Buie credit.
"The officials didn't call it so at the end of the day, Boo made a hell of a shot. You have to give him credit,'' he said. "You know, they're good one-on-one players. They're great off the bounce in terms of being able to break you down. If they don't play in space, which I don't think we allowed them to do tonight, we kept letting them get to their strong hand and that's on us from a defensive standpoint.
"We're trying to trigger where all the flow is and the traffic to give you help, and if you let them get the other way, that's on us as a team.''
The two Indiana players who were available after the game — Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson — weren't even asked about the final play during their short 4-minute postgame interview. (I wasn't there.)
Buie claimed he didn't do anything wrong, despite what the IU fan base was claiming on Twitter. Of course he's going to believe it.
The vitriol over the call is warranted, but let's be clear on something else, too. That is not the only reason why Indiana lost. I've watched thousands of games and there's a simple way to avoid getting beat on a non-call like that.
Be up by four or more instead of being tied in that situation.
Fans love to blame every loss on the refs, which is really foolish. Indiana had many more chances to be further ahead in that game, and they didn't do it. They were brutal in the first half, and looked lost and confused against Northwestern's aggressive double teams. Being in a 20-point hole is a recipe for disaster, especially on the road.
Sure, it was a tough environment, but every Big Ten venue can be that way. IU fans have been making a big deal about how rough the thousand or so Northwestern students were to Miller Kopp, but let's be real. There were more IU fans in that building than there were Northwestern fans.
It was not nearly as hostile as Purdue will be in a few weeks, or even Michigan State, though that remains to be seen considering the tragedy that's gone on up there. Were the Northwestern students vulgar? Sure they were. But let's call a spade a spade. IU students do the same exact thing, and there are 5,000 or more of them.
Indiana students are just as bad with their profanity, if not worse, and nothing gets done about it at Assembly Hall, either. They make a nice announcement asking people to be polite, but that falls on deaf ears in the student section. It's embarrassing, really. But it also happens everywhere now. Maryland fans were brutal to IU, so were the Illinois fans.
So yes, you have to play through that on the road. There are no moral victories in the Big Ten, but I do give Indiana's players a heck of a lot of credit for playing so well in the second half and getting back in the game. It was a great comeback.
It came up short, of course, and that's too bad. It's a hard one to swallow, because of the final call and the overall poor officiating throughout the game.
It was a bad night for Larry Scirotto, Brian Dorsey, Don Daily. They did not have a good game, especially Scirotto, who's been officiating major-college basketball for more than two decades but just might be my least-favorite official in the Big Ten. He's just not good, far too predictable on calls or non-calls and he's got rabbit ears.
Those two technicals — and the subsequent four made free throws — had more to do with determining a winner than the final drive did. That was on Scirotto. He also screwed Indiana the same way at Iowa on Jan. 4.
If Scirotto is on a crew with D.J. Carstensen as the chief, I can usually live with him because Carstensen keeps him in check. But he was brutal last night. They all were.
But you can't blame them for everything. You need to play better, too, and take the refs out of the game. Easier said than done, or course, but that's what it takes. Indiana has been better on the road lately, but sometimes 8-on-5 is hard to overcome.
Put a bow on it though, and move on. Next is Illinois on Saturday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The one guarantee there? You know Illini coach Brad Underwood will complain about all the home cooking that Indiana gets.
That's just how it works in the Big Ten.
Related stories on Indiana basketball:
- GAME STORY: Indiana made a valiant comeback in the second half of Wednesday's game against Northwestern at Welsh-Ryan Arena, but Boo Buie's game-winner sealed a 64-62 victory for the Wildcats. CLICK HERE
- WHAT WOODSON SAID: Hear from Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson following the No. 14 Hoosiers' 64-62 road loss to Northwestern Wednesday night. Read his full transcript, or just watch the attached video. CLICK HERE
- 'WE'RE THE BEST BACKCOURT IN THE COUNTRY': Senior guards Boo Buie and Chase Audige led Northwestern to wins over No. 1 Purdue and No. 14 Indiana this week, combining for 76 points across the two games. "I think we're the best backcourt in the country," Audige said after the Wildcats 64-62 win over Indiana. CLICK HERE
- COLLINS ON VULGAR CHANS AT KOPP: Following Northwestern's 64-62 win over Indiana, coach Chris Collins commented on the vulgar chants directed at Miller Kopp, who transferred from Northwestern to Indiana before the 2021-22 season. CLICK HERE
- PHOTO GALLERY: Take a look at 20 photos from Indiana's 64-62 loss at Northwestern. Down by more than 20 points in the first half, the No. 14 Hoosiers barely fell short in a huge second half comeback. CLICK HERE
- WATCH TJD'S SLICK PASS TO THOMPSON Watch this highlight of Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis's pass to fellow forward Race Thompson, who puts it up for two in the Hoosiers' game versus Northwestern. CLICK HERE
- WATCH WOODSON AND HOOSIER BENCH GET TWO TECHNICALS Watch this replay of Indiana basketball's bench and head coach Mike Woodson receiving two technical fouls in the first half of the Hoosiers' matchup with Northwestern Wednesday night. CLICK HERE
- WATCH JORDAN GERONIMO'S DUNK ON WILDCATS Watch this replay of Hoosier forward Jordan Geronimo dunking on Northwestern for the lead Wednesday night. CLICK HERE
