Less than six minutes into the second half of Monday’s national title game, CBS play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle informed the millions watching that Houston would be in the bonus for the final 14-plus minutes.
After a relatively clean first half with just four fouls and four three throws, the second half of Florida’s 65-63 triumph turned into what nobody wanted to see: a referee show.
Foul. Free throws. Rinse. Repeat.
It led to a disjointed second half that provided a stain on an otherwise exhilarating title game that saw the Gators rally from 12 points down in the second half to win their third national title.
“Nothing more annoying than when refs completely change how they are calling a game after halftime,” tweeted North Carolina preps coach Gibson Pyper, who has more than 80,000 followers.
Tight basketball games usually are going to feature more fouls in the second half when the trailing teams trades free-throw attempts to get the ball back quicker.
Most fans can usually live with an abundance of calls or a lack of whistles provided the game is called in a similar manner from start to finish.
That did not happen Monday.
The referees, as the saying goes, let them play in the first half, with just four fouls called and four total free throws while Houston took a 31-28 lead into the break.
One could argue perhaps the referees let too much go, especially since Houston is an ultra-physical team.
The second half started and the referees completely changed their approach.
Just 27 seconds into the half, the referees called Florida for its first foul. The Gators, thanks to a technical on the Florida bench, hit their six-foul pre-bonus limit just 2:39 into the half.
Both teams entered the bonus with 12:06 left in the half when Houston committed it seventh foul.
The second half ultimately featured a staggering 26 fouls and 31 free throws.
The tighter whistle ultimately benefitted Florida with Houston committing 16 violations in the second half to the Gators’ 10, with the champions also shooting 19 free throws to the Cougars’ 12.
The calls also mostly went against Houston after the early frenzy against Florida.
After the Gators committed their seventh foul with 14:07 remaining in the half, the referees only called three more fouls against the SEC champions.
Houston instead committed 13 fouls in the final 14 minutes.
A critical first-half call also went against Houston when Florida committed a clear goaltending violation that went uncalled and led to a Gators 3 in the final minute to cut the deficit to 31-28.
“The refs made sure they reminded everyone we’re here to watch them in the second half,” Barstool’s Dan “Big Cat” Katz posted.
Not everyone, though, had issues with the discrepancies between how the referees operated.
Longtime college basketball journalist Seth Davis noted early in the second half how the two teams shifted their approach while the referees called a tighter game.
“I’ve always disagreed with the argument that the refs should call it the same the whole game,” Davis wrote. “The game changes. Sometimes you need to blow the [whistle] to tighten things up. They did, the players adjusted, and we’ve got an amazing final 12 minutes. Reffing is more art than science.”
