[December 17th, 2015 - Game #11, vs. Nebraska-Omaha]
UNO (1-7) @ UMKC (7-3) :: Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, MO
Got tickets to tonight's game with a friend and co-worker of mine that is a UMKC graduate. Down 20 at the half, the Mavericks fought back late but ultimately fell short 80-65 on the road at UMKC, now 8-3 under first-year head coach Cale Jefferson; and in the midst of one of their best starts in school history. Omaha didn't have an answer for reserve guard Brad Fitzwater, who came off the bench to score twenty-three points in all, and had nineteen at the break.
However, it seemed that the head official had some sort of beef with the young head coach, as the foul disparity was 7-1 in favor of the road team, making questionable calls from sub-optimal angles. On one or two occasions, he made it a point to over-exaggerate a foul call right in front of him. Finally, I think he had enough, and was assessed a technical foul with 13:19 to go in the first half. They were up 24-15 at that point, and that seemed to get his team going again as they ended up leading 49-29 at the break with Fitzwater leading the charge. Also, the foul calls seemed to balance out after that, as the Kangaroos had nine fouls to the Mavericks' eight.
UMKC had thirteen assists on twenty made baskets in the first half, showing incredible efficiency. They shot 20-of-34 as a team in the first half (.588), and hit seven threes. As a fan of the Mavericks, it was simultaneously fun and frustrating to watch at times.
The same official picked up where he left off from early in the game, as Jefferson was livid with the officiating again after the Mavericks began the second half on a 8-0 run, and a handful of ticky-tack calls had put standouts Ronnie Chappel and Will Bedard into foul trouble with fourteen minutes to go. He channeled his inner Coach K by ripping off his sport coat in frustration. Honestly, he was beginning to make an ass of himself by this time, but I could understand the source of the frustration at least.
UMKC held their largest lead at twenty-one with 5:56 to go after a Stephen Jones trey, his third triple of the game. Jefferson put Bedard and Chappel back in with four fouls after sitting them for awhile due to the foul trouble, but were quickly ousted from the game in a matter of minutes as they were called for touch fouls on consecutive possessions, one of them by the same referee. I don't know what happened, but this guy clearly had some issue with Jefferson, and was trying to make an example of him. Well, whatever he was doing worked; as he finally was fed up, and dropped an F-bomb to get himself tossed. It was much to the delight of the near-sellout crowd, as they had been hard on that official all game long, and cheered the coach as he headed back to the locker room.
I'm a UNO graduate living and working in Kansas City who follows both of these programs and other mid-major programs like Creighton, and I hadn't ever seen anything like this at this level. I don't think Jefferson is totally clean here, but if I were him, I'd send that game tape to their league office and have it reviewed. The foul disparity was 29-17 in favor of Omaha. UMKC shot ten free throws to Omaha's forty-one, and Omaha after the first ten minutes were relegated to mainly jump-shooting because they kept getting their shots blocked when they went inside. There was no way they played in a way that would allow them to shoot thirty-one more foul shots than their opposition without a little help.
OMAH (01-08): 29-38-65
UMKC (08-03): 49-31-80
Rebounds (Offensive): UMKC 35 (6), OMAH 29 (5)
Blocked Shots: UMKC 10, OMAH 5
Steals: UMKC 8, OMAH 8
Assists: UMKC 20, OMAH 15
Turnovers: OMAH 14, UMKC 13
Field Goals: UMKC 32/59 (.542), OMAH 17/45 (.378)
Three-point: UMKC 10/22 (.455), OMAH 6/14 (.429)
Free Throws: OMAH 25/41 (.610), UMKC 6/10 (.600)
Points In Paint: UMKC 22, OMAH 16
Second Chance Points: UMKC 14, OMAH 1
Fast Break Points: UMKC 13, OMAH 4
Largest Lead: UMKC 21, OMAH 0
Player of the Game: Brad Fitzwater, UMKC - 23 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, block, 2 steals
OMAH
Dan Klein: 15 points, 6 rebounds, steal, assist
Robert Tucker: 13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, steal, 3 turnovers
UMKC
Will Bedard: 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals
Stephen Jones: 14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks