The West Virginia University women’s basketball team came very close on Monday night to beating top seed Iowa and advancing to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. It was a dogged performance by the Mountaineers on a prominent national stage and the conclusion of a remarkable season by first year head coach Mark Kellogg.
The Mountaineers forced 15 turnovers and held the Hawkeyes to 64 points, their second-lowest output of the season. Offensively, WVU was below their season averages, hitting only 34 percent from the field (21 of 62) and just 27 percent (9 of 34) from three point range.
The Mountaineers might have pulled off the historic upset had they made more shots, but instead Iowa emerged with a 64-54 victory. However, it is also reasonable to raise questions about the officiating because it had a significant impact on the outcome of the game.
Iowa shot 30 free throws and made 25 of them, while West Virginia only got to the free throw line five times and made three. WVU was whistled for 27 fouls, while Iowa was called for 11. That differential was obvious in the fourth quarter when Iowa scored all but two of its points from the free throw line.
MetroNews Sports’ Brad Howe looked at the all-important free throw attempt (FTA) statistic. That is the rate at which a team gets to the free throw line calculated by dividing the number of free throws attempted by the number of field goals attempted. Free throws are valued uncontested shots so the higher rate, the better the chances of winning.
According to Brad’s calculations, Iowa’s FTA was a season high of 64 percent, more than twice their season average of 31 percent and only the second time all season Iowa had an FTA rate greater than 49 percent. The result was 39 percent of Iowa’s points came from the free throw line.
West Virginia, on the other hand, had a FTA of only eight percent, well below the season average of 33 percent and the lowest of the season. Just five percent of West Virginia’s points came from free throws compared with a season average of 18 percent.
West Virginia plays a pressing, aggressive defense so you would expect the Mountaineers to have more fouls, but the discrepancy in this case is blatant.
Now, I am not suggesting any sort of conspiracy by the NCAA or the television networks to keep Iowa in the tournament, although Caitlin Clark does draw the most interest, and thus more viewers. And I am not making an argument that the officials cost West Virginia the game. West Virginia missed too many shots.
However, clearly the officiating had a significant impact on the outcome.
The officiating is not the story of the game, but it is part of the story. The foul and free throw statistics are just as relevant as field goals, turnovers and assists, and the officiating has a direct role in how the game is called and who gets to the free throw line.
Officials have a hard job. Basketball moves so fast, and officials have a split second to make a call. They get it right more often than not, and bad calls are just part of the game. Play on, coaches will tell their team.
But that does not mean a fair analysis of officiating should be off limits. The numbers from Monday night’s game show a glaring discrepancy in how the game was officiated. That is worthy of discussion.