I never blame the refs, no reason to start now. In basketball, especially on the road you have to expect questionable calls. Over time you certainly get your share that goes your way as well and it mostly evens out is how I view it. That's part of why there is a strong homecourt advantage, to begin with. In ECU's particular case after the first charging call the team should have known to be more aware that they were calling it. Indeed, after the second one you don't run down and try to pound it in with Ausar or you are asking for more. It was mostly avoidable.
Speaking of awareness the final possession you have to know there is no time to pass it into the post when he did. That's some of the worst end-of-game execution I've seen. The math just wasn't there after he picked up his dribble to score a 2, foul, and even if you could have got the ball back going the length of the court. He's 6-6 and shoots sky balls anyway, heave the $hit. Literally, ECU would have been better heaving a half-courter or in the face of Tulane little guards than what played out. Heck, maybe you even get a foul called. Your internal clock has to be better. When your best three-point shooter by several percent only shoots 35% and is a PF that can't create his own shot and you have to get the ball too this situation is exacerbated as we see.
That game was there for the taking. It always seems like one step forward and one step back at ECU. Just when there is a little momentum it's squashed as usual. This sets up a must-win on the road at UCF to avoid the losing season. It also will probably decide if they will even screw around with the CBI or not. Big game with UCF on short prep and having played 3 games in 5 days while they sit more rested at home. That one didn't set up or match up as well as ECU did in this game. That's what is frustrating.
