Do the Shockers have a case with Saturday’s officials? Here’s what the film shows
Refereeing in the American Athletic Conference has become a hot topic in the past week with the latest controversy happening inside Koch Arena, where Wichita State shot 28 fewer free throws than Cincinnati in the Bearcats’ 66-55 win on Saturday.
After the loss, which dropped the Shockers to 1-4 in conference play and 8-9 on the season, coach Gregg Marshall remarked that he felt like WSU was the road team at Koch Arena.
The 28-shot disparity at the foul line was the largest a WSU team has seen at home in 19 years, nearly matching a Jan. 12, 2000 game at Levitt Arena when Missouri State outshot the Shockers 45-16 from the free-throw line in a 70-63 win for the Bears.
“I hope the whistle was better than I thought it was during the game,” Marshall said after the game. “When I look at it, I certainly hope it was better than I think it is right now.”
Usually the narrative that is used after a game where a team holds a significant advantage at the foul line is that the team must have been more aggressive than its counterpart.
That certainly felt like the case on Saturday. While WSU was able to match Cincinnati’s physicality at times, there’s no denying the Shockers wasted too many possessions on the perimeter with forced jumpers to beat the shot clock and with careless turnovers.
But the numbers don’t support the theory Cincinnati was significantly more aggressive than WSU. Cincinnati drew nine fouls driving to the basket or in the paint, while WSU drew eight such fouls. Cincinnati and WSU each attempted 17 shots in the paint.
The difference can be seen when looking at the foul chart.
WSU fouled Cincinnati nine times around the perimeter, while the Shockers only drew one foul remotely close to the perimeter and that came when Jamarius Burton was probing the defense going toward the basket.
Upon watching the film, I’m sure this is where Marshall was the most upset with the foul disparity. So do the Shockers have a case with the officiating crew of Pat Adams, Marques Pettigrew and Olandis Poole in just their sixth loss at Koch Arena in the last six years?
Here are three things to consider:
1. WSU has a fouling problem
Saturday was when Marshall and WSU reached their boiling point with officiating, but foul problems have been a lingering problem for the Shockers in American play.
After five games, WSU is averaging 22.6 fouls, 4.6 more than its opponents. The Shockers have shot fewer free throws in all five games and are shooting an average of 14.4 fewer free throws per game.
It likely has to do with playing so many first-year players, especially freshmen. WSU should improve over time, but right now, it’s an issue. After the Houston loss, where WSU was whistled for 26 fouls, Marshall addressed the issue.
“It’s like that every game,” Marshall said. “The other team is in the bonus real early. It’s not the same referee crew that travels around with us, so I assume it’s us.”
Cincinnati was a top-100 team in free-throw rate before Saturday’s game, so it’s not a total surprise the Bearcats were able to get to the line. But 28 more free throws than WSU at Koch Arena? Coach Mick Cronin had to be privately shocked by that. Take away the four technical free throws and the four end-of-game free throws and Cincinnati still held a 20-shot advantage.
2. Difference in defenses and aggression
The shot chart shows the two teams took the same number of shots in the paint, but what it doesn’t show is the direction the players were going when they took those shots.
Cincinnati’s players were attacking the basket, often drawing contact going straight into the defender. Sometimes that resulted in a bad shot, but that mentality paid off in the long run with a healthy dose of free throws from attacking.
When you watch some of WSU’s shots around the basket, you start to notice players fading away from contact. When you attack the basket, you want your momentum carrying you toward the rim, not away from it. Too often that was the case for the Shockers.
It should also be noted that WSU played primarily man defense, while the Bearcats played essentially the entire game in a match-up zone. That matters because it explains some of the disparity in the foul calls on the perimeter.
Because WSU was in man, its defenders had to stay connected to Cincinnati’s guards running through screens. That presented a lot of challenges and WSU was tagged with nine fouls on the perimeter fighting through screens, trying to defend pick-and-rolls or challenging passes to the wing.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati was able to sit back in its zone. Marshall admitted afterward his team struggled operating its zone offense and that played a role in WSU’s lack of aggression on the offensive end. The Shockers simply didn’t force the issue as many times as Cincinnati.
But that doesn’t mean WSU wasn’t on the wrong end of blown calls. Here are three that looked egregious in real time and didn’t improve upon replay.
3. WSU wins the battle, Jarron Cumberland wins the war
Marshall will love what he sees with how multiple Shockers defenders forced Cumberland into guarded shots and turned Cincinnati’s star wing into an inefficient volume scorer (18 points on 17 shots).
But watching WSU be called for nine fouls trying to guard Cumberland will likely drive Marshall crazy. The Shockers were whistled four times alone away from the ball for fouls grappling with Cumberland through screens.
Watch the first four clips above closely. Those are hard plays to officiate in real time and that’s by design of Cumberland. He knows as a star player he will be every defense’s top priority and he uses that attention to his advantage. Yes, WSU’s defenders were a little handsy; but you don’t get four calls like that without selling it.
Chalk that up to the difference in experience. Cumberland is a savvy veteran at forcing contact when he’s coming off screens. WSU freshmen Dexter Dennis and Jamarius Burton are still learning how much physicality they can get away with on the perimeter. Cumberland tried to take advantage of that experience on Saturday and succeeded not only tagging WSU with four off-ball fouls, but building WSU’s frustrations that eventually boiled over in a critical stretch.
Cincinnati loves running Cumberland off screens for dribble hand-offs to get his defender on his hip and let Cumberland make plays from there. He was able to draw four more foul calls this way because he’s deceptive with his speeds and knows how speed up or slow down to create contact.
And on Saturday, Cumberland was getting calls. The biggest came just three minutes into the game when Cumberland attacked WSU center Jaime Echenique coming off a screen and drew the second foul on Echenique, who sat for the final 17 minutes of the first half. It looked like Echenique did well to slide with Cumberland and keep his hands straight up, but Cumberland forced the issue and got the benefit of the call.
It’s not a total surprise, considering Cumberland owns a top-150 foul drawn rate nationally, per KenPom.com. The junior did get called for two offensive fouls, but came out well ahead by drawing nine on WSU and shooting 10 free throws.
Marshall won’t like the Echenique foul and some of those off-ball tangles, where WSU likely feels Cumberland was just as responsible, but there was no denying that Cumberland’s aggression won him the benefit of the doubt in this game.
Do the Shockers have a right to feel like the officiating played a role in the game? Sure, there’s no denying that it played a role. But WSU can’t pin the entirety of the loss on the officials. They weren’t the ones that couldn’t keep Tre Scott or Nysier Brooks off the glass (Cincinnati dominated the boards, 36-24) or shot 42 percent on two-pointers or committed 13 turnovers, including five in a row at one point.
Marshall’s task this week will be burying that emotional loss in the past and leading the Shockers to their first road win of the season, which they’ll be looking for on Tuesday night at South Florida.
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