Has your experience been similar?

[OttoMets]

...SU lost the game in the later part of the first half when they had 4 straight possessions of taking (and missing) 18 foot jump shots. He thought that SU was the aggressor until that point in the game, and once Ohio St became the aggressor, they started getting more of the calls.

Mason

This was a huge factor. We were rolling; had 23 points with 8:45 to go. South missed a nice baseline jumper. Dion took a horrible jumper and compounded that by making a dumb reach-in foul a moment later. Joseph missed a jumper. Then the blown charge call happened. Got the nice lob to CJ to give us 25. Missed three by Joseph (good look, but still a miss). Missed layup by Joseph. Missed jumper by Joseph. Three more missed jumpers (CJ, Triche, Joseph) along with a couple free throws and a nice Triche pass to Rakeem for a dunk.

Six points in the last 8:45, and a ton of forced jumpers (plus a couple good jumpers that missed). OSU was bound to shoot better in the second half. If it had been 39-29 at the half, we'd have been in good shape. Instead we'd only played to a tie. That put us into a position where we'd a.) need to shoot well and b.) need a level playing field to win. We got neither.

 

[stuckinbig11]

While that is possibly true, it also means we could have won in spite of the refs if we did what we had to do. But you should not have to win in spite of the refs. I made a mistake last night by re-watching the game. It was worse than it was live. For those that say "what if" Sullinger didn't get called for that 2nd foul. Well if he didn't get called for that, he would have been on the floor to maybe commit some other foul for his 2nd in the half. It wasn't close to even folks. Watch it again if you dare. We had multiple guys taken way for their game but some dismiss that.

Ok, I agree, we should not have to take the game back from the refs. Regarding Sullinger, my biggest problem was that he was never called for head-butting in the chest when he decided to drive to the hoop. He sent Baye flying but got the call. Melo would have gotten the call under the same circumstances.

 

[Col. Bleep]

Yes...this was one of the worst-officiated games I've ever seen.
But Ohio State was the victim of the single most significant horrendous call...the 2nd "foul" on Sullinger that sent him to the bench for 13 minutes.
We didn't capitalize.
We missed at least 3 layups.
We took too many questionable outside shots.
And we turned the ball over instead of scoring when it counted down the stretch.

Bottom line: we didn't play well enough to win.

 

[JKinPhilly]

Ok, I agree, we should not have to take the game back from the refs. Regarding Sullinger, my biggest problem was that he was never called for head-butting in the chest when he decided to drive to the hoop. He sent Baye flying but got the call. Melo would have gotten the call under the same circumstances.

That one really puzzled me as well - as quick as the refs seem to be calling charges then they just let Sullinger bowl right over Keita. It's one thing to be consistently bad - another thing to be bad and wildly inconsistent with your calls.

 

[JackBauer44]

My boss randomly sent me an e-mail Sunday afternoon that said "Syracuse just got called for another foul, it's gotta be tough to be an orange fan". I then proceeded to e-mail him 10 minutes after UNC lost and said Karma's a bitch. Gotta love living in Raleigh as a Cuse fan!

 

[CorduroyG]

This was a huge factor. We were rolling; had 23 points with 8:45 to go. South missed a nice baseline jumper. Dion took a horrible jumper and compounded that by making a dumb reach-in foul a moment later. Joseph missed a jumper. Then the blown charge call happened. Got the nice lob to CJ to give us 25. Missed three by Joseph (good look, but still a miss). Missed layup by Joseph. Missed jumper by Joseph. Three more missed jumpers (CJ, Triche, Joseph) along with a couple free throws and a nice Triche pass to Rakeem for a dunk.

Six points in the last 8:45, and a ton of forced jumpers (plus a couple good jumpers that missed). OSU was bound to shoot better in the second half. If it had been 39-29 at the half, we'd have been in good shape. Instead we'd only played to a tie. That put us into a position where we'd a.) need to shoot well and b.) need a level playing field to win. We got neither.

other than the refs, i think that was the biggest reason we lost the game, more than the missed layups. those forced contested jumpers were mind boggling to me. those were bad shots even if sullinger was in the game, with him out it was just ridiculous for us to be jacking up those shots. i dont wanna say ohio st was on the ropes, but we had momentum, we had the crowd, you could tell ohio st was just kinda hanging on the last few minutes of the 1st half. and we just couldnt take advantage for whatever reason. so many times this year that would be the moment we'd hit a team with a 10-2 run and take control of the game. i knew at halftime we were in trouble, we absolutely should have been up 6 or 8 points at half.

 

[TinyManInside]

I like Mason's posts and I respect him as a great contributor to this board, but I really have to disagree with him about what I consider the major difference maker was in that game. Probably the worst officiated game that I've ever seen.

Ya they screwed up the last few possessions of the game, but the way I look at it our primary game winning approach that has been a key to our success this season, our aggressive defense, was totally taken away by very questionable calls early in the game. That is what neutered our game.

Hard to play defense when the refs are blowing whistle after whistle on plays that we were never whistled for in 30+ previous games. I'd guess we lost out on a number of possessions plus giving OS numerous foul shots that they never should have gotten. The way that game was called early signaled our team that playing anything near our normal defensive intensity was a no no with those refs. We adjusted and it killed our normal defensive game.

The refs were a major factor in deciding who won that game.

I love the Orange, but I'm by no stretch of the imagination blinded by orange colored glasses. A number of my friends..a Maryland grad and a couple of Missouri grads, agree that it was one of the worst screw jobs that they've seen.

I'm not bitter and I'm old enough where losing a basketball game doesn't send me into depression and despair. I think I'm pretty objective about how that game played out.

I wasn't saying that was my opinion. I was quoting my friend (also a Missouri grad/fan).