Several of the fouls by Jackson, Millner, and Scurry were simply poor decisions without regard to the situation- especially once you're in foul trouble.. trying to reach over the back to knock away entry passes (all 3).. one play in particular Millner after denying the entry pass to Zecevic and with the guard dribbling away from them as the shot clock is winding down- Millner chucks Zecevic with 2 forearms in the back for position 12 feet from the basket.. Zecevic was never going to get the ball back.. stuff like that is simply bad situational awareness/very poor decisions..
Much of the final 3:45 of that game in regulation went the same..
I don't question the strategy to foul or not so much at the very end since CNM was trying to get Green to foul the FAU ball handler before he crossed half-court in watching the replay this afternoon.. but taking the 2nd to last timeout at 3:45 to play after Johnson's layup to take the lead to 11 at 80-69 instead of just waiting for the U4 dead-ball/media timeout is curious to me.. I'm guessing CNM needed to rest the guys once Johnson hit the layup but after that the comedy of errors started up.. I think if you're going to be critical of CNM for anything in particular it would be of that decision to call that time out with momentum on your side and the U4 media timeout still in play..
After the timeout, 3:45 to play
- Forrest pulls up for dribble drive jumper- 80-71
- Sims subsequently fumbles the ball 3 x leading to TO/layup- 80-73
- After inbounds, Green about to be double-teamed lollipops a pass to Johnson (who also doesn't meet the ball), TO, FAU layup- 80-75
Then CNM rightly burns his final timeout with 2:45 to settle the team..
2 timeouts, 2 live ball turnovers resulting in a 6-0 run in 1 minute of action
After that final timeout; 2:45 to play
- Jones forces wing to baseline drive pullup (contested by Sillins and fading away)- miss, FAU rebound
-2:09 FAU makes FT jumper: 80-77
1:38 Sims jacks contested 3 off dribble but makes it: 83-77 (official review confirms he was behind the line)
1:27 Jones gets pinned by Sillins on wing screen/off ball allowing pass to corner, Scurry can't help much but he was slightly out of position as well; the shot is slightly contested but very open look for made 3 FAU pointer: 83-80
1:11 Green steps out of bounds receiving pass in halfcourt offense- he had a good game finally but this TO shouldn't happen for a red-shirt senior.
59.3 FAU makes contested jumper; 83-82
33.5 Green misses contested layup/ FAU board
29.2 Forrest flails on the drive/Sims called for something- Forrest misses both- Scurry/Sillins tied up for rebound- MTSU possession arrow.
19.4 Sims fouled- misses front end of 1:1
FAU subsequently misses wide open corner 3 (Forrest); Millner fouled on rebound
Millner make both FT's and meanwhile instead of being able to call a timeout after the 2nd made FT by Millner to talk/regroup and communicate without tipping off the FAU bench- CNM and staff are telegraphing what they want the players to do.. Green doesn't foul FAU early enough and the FAU timeout is granted.. so aside from the player controlled miscues, I question the 3:45 timeout most of all because if he still had that one in his pocket it would've enabled clearer communication to the team and kept the FAU bench from knowing what the MTSU defense was trying to do.. just my $0.02