The referee’s whistles are quicker, calls are softer and senior guard Keith Hornsby doesn’t like it.
In their previous two games, the Tigers collected 43 fouls in 80 total minutes of play and 318 personal fouls through 16 games this season, for an average of 19.9 fouls per game.
Hornsby doesn’t know what changed with officiating this season, but he swears something did.
“It’s different this year than last year,” Hornsby said. “Last year, you could be physical with someone. I swear. I’ve only played eight games this year, but in those eight games, a lot of those fouls called on me are very questionable. It’s tough. All it takes is two blows of the whistle and you’re done for a half.”
Following one of coach Johnny Jones’ coaching principles, two fouls in the first half equals a seat for the remainder of the period.
In LSU’s 90-81 win against Ole Miss on Wednesday, the Tigers had five players seated for a large portion of the first half with two fouls apiece.
Freshman forward Ben Simmons was benched with 8:45 remaining in the opening period, junior guard Tim Quarterman at 6:15, sophomore forward Craig Victor II at 5:08, senior guard Josh Gray at 1:52 and junior center Darcy Malone at 1:16.
Moving forward in Southeastern Conference play, opposing teams are beginning to exploit the Tigers’ defense during the seemingly inevitable lapse of play from key players in the opening half of games, as Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy attempted Wednesday against a Simmons-less LSU lineup.
“The reality was we weren’t taking advantage of opportunities in the first half,” Kennedy said. “We missed five opportunities in the paint without [Ben Simmons] in the game. Those are things that come back to haunt you.”
Ole Miss senior guard Stefan Moody drew most of the fouls as he elusively attacked the rim, and waltzed his 5-foot-11 frame to two 36-foot 3-pointers and a 7-of-9 night from the free-throw line in a 33-point effort, his season high.
Regardless of Moody’s attack, Hornsby said he began to notice the “ticky-tack” fouls being called at the start of the season, and the referee’s haven’t laid off the whistles since, which can be good, and bad, he said.
“Any hand contact, it’s good and bad for you,” Hornsby said. “It’s good for you offensively because they can’t do the same thing. It’s easier to drive. Bad, because it’s hard to stay in front of them without fouling. It makes you move your feet.”
A defender moving his feet is one way to stop a prolific scorer, but Quarterman said stopping a faster offensive player has nearly become impossible in today’s game.
“I feel like now in the game, if someone gets faster, there’s no way you can stop them because of the way they call the game,” he said.
The Savannah, Georgia native agreed with Hornsby’s notion of the officiating changes.
“The game is definitely being called different this year,” Quarterman said. “They are calling fouls very ticky-tacky, soft fouls. We just have to play to what they’re calling. Hands up and hands off, stuff like that.”
Despite their frustration with LSU’s recent fouling fuss, Hornsby and Quarterman said the quick whistles were good for the game because it’s making all teams become more disciplined defensively, also providing more offensive opportunity.
Victor, a 6-foot-9 forward and LSU’s bruiser in the paint, said the whistles becoming spontaneous and unjustified is what LSU must adjust to, but he said LSU’s foul issues are its own fault.
It’s physical play on defense and aggressive approach offensively lead to fouls on both ends of the floor. But LSU’s biggest challenge lies between finding a happy medium between controlled physicality and unwarranted, cheap fouls.
Toward the beginning the of the 2015-16 season, Victor said he heard the echoing sentiment of local and national media calling LSU “soft.”
Victor and company had to say “no” to the “soft” mantra suffocating the undersized Tigers.
Hence, the season-long foul troubles.
“I remember at the beginning of the year, people were saying we aren’t physical,” he said. “[They were] saying we were soft. That didn’t hurt at all. But, at the same time, we had to say no. We’re playing our game. We’re playing physical.”