N.C. State had two fouls to give at the end of Wednesday's game at Maryland.
Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried used one of the fouls and he said Friday that he thought he used what was the best strategy to win the game.
Maryland's Alex Len scored off a Pe'Shon Howard miss with 0.9 seconds left for a 51-50 win, but Gottfried was pleased with the shot his defense forced Howard to take.
"The truth of the matter is, Pe'Shon Howard took an off-balance, awful shot and shot an airball, which is what you would want to have," Gottfried said.
"The tough thing was the airball went right in front of the basket, which was perfect for Len."
ESPN analyst Jay Bilas disagreed with Gottfried's strategy. During the game, Bilas advocated N.C. State using both fouls.
"You make them inbound a few times and you have more of a chance that they're going to turn the ball over or make a mistake," Bilas said during the broadcast with 12.4 seconds left in the game.
N.C. State had four team fouls at that point. Gottfried had guard Lorenzo Brown foul Howard with 5.2 seconds left, for the team's fifth foul. Instead of going for another foul (the one-and-one bonus doesn't kick in until the seventh team foul), Gottfried trusted his defense.
Gottfried said he didn't want to risk giving Maryland a shooting foul and sending them to the foul line for a chance to win the game.
"I thought we handled it correctly, we just didn't get a stop with 5 seconds to go, bottom line," Gottfried said.
Howard drove to the left baseline and took a twisting shot over Brown, and forwards Richard Howell and C.J. Leslie, who both came over to help contest the shot.
After Len's putback, Bilas said during the broadcast that N.C. State should have fouled again and even referenced N.C. State's 1983 national championship in the process.
"N.C. State made a huge mistake not fouling there," Bilas said during the broadcast. "You make them inbound it again.
"Allowing them that much time, you give them time for an offensive rebound. ... I mean, in 1983, Lorenzo Charles got one of those to win the national championship."
Gottfried, who worked at ESPN for two years before taking the State job, said he understood Bilas' comments.
"Let me say this as a former guy who sat in that seat: It's easy to make a suggestion and your suggestion is always right, as mine were when I worked for ESPN," Gottfried said. "I had every answer."
Comments
It was Leslie's mistake....
Fri, 01/18/2013 - 18:52 — you_folks....that cost NC State the game. Blocking out Len was his responsibility. He went for a shot block he was unlikely to get because of where he was on a shot that was unlikely to go in because of how off-balance Howard was. I don't understand why the commentators or Gottfried have not pointed that out. If he stayed home the ball would have fallen in his hands, not Len's.
Defense
Sat, 01/19/2013 - 01:25 — ab3623I agree totally; I thought this as I watched CJ lunge for a block when he should have been boxing out (Len) and going up for a possible rebound. I guess that Mark G. just doesn't want to be publicly critical of Leslie, but I bet he makes him watch the film - to the end of not ever doing that again. So maybe a good lesson for post-season.
Agree
Fri, 01/18/2013 - 16:50 — SurferHate to admit it, but have to agree with Bilas. You foul soon after the inbounds. Do it smartly and Maryland loses a few seconds, plus have to inbound the ball again. Do that and they don't have time to dribble deep enough to make that kind of pass at the end of the game.
you can what-if any 1 point loss forever
Fri, 01/18/2013 - 16:23 — bppackon the first foul, the ballhandler was out of shooting range. I expected us to foul again but can understand not wanting to take a chance fouling the shooter. and it is a fact that the guy shot an off balance, falling down air ball so the defense was good. and even if we had fouled, the game wasn't over - we still had to play good defense again. of course, if Scott had made the open 12 footer, we wouldn't even be talking about this. tough luck, tough loss.
To foul or not to foul?
Fri, 01/18/2013 - 16:10 — DarkHorseHow many games has Bilas won as a coach making a decision like this? He's a perfect example of why I turn off the TV audio and sync the radio audio with my DVR so I don't have to listen to so called "expert " opinions.
I can see
Fri, 01/18/2013 - 15:56 — PackFanManGottfried's point in not wanting to create a shooting foul so I am not sure that not fouling was the wrong thing to do. It was just unfortunate that Leslie evidently left his man to contest the shot and just could not quite get high enough to block the shot---this allowed Lind to grab the ball---just unfortunate. As Gott related in the post game, we were a "fingertip" away from winning the game.
I was more concerned as to why we didn't attack the basket on the other end. Maryland had 9 fouls, as I recall, with just a few minutes remaining and we didn't go to the foul line once in that span---a double bonus situation and we didn't work the ball inside and take advantage of it---I don't understand why.