Eustachy: Lost cool leads to lost game
Associated Press
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- All night long, coach Larry Eustachy
was on his feet, up and down in front of the Iowa State bench,
shouting at his players, shouting at the officials, just plain
shouting.
This was, after all, no small piece of business against Michigan
State. The coach's seat on the bench was there strictly for
decoration. Eustachy certainly didn't need it.
|  | | Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy gets in the face of referee Curtis Shaw as Cyclones guard Michael Nurse tries to intervene. |
In the end, though, the coach's carrying on went too far in the
NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional final Saturday night. Eustachy
wound up in the dressing room, thrown out on a double technical
foul in the final minute of Michigan State's 75-64 victory that was
much closer than that.
This game was played hand-to-hand, with an in-your-face attitude
by both teams. "I didn't even comb my hair today," said Iowa
State guard Michael Nurse, "because I knew it would be a
dogfight."
Emotions ran high all night long, and Eustachy wasn't the first
coach to get in trouble with the officials. Michigan State's Tom
Izzo drew his own technical foul with 5:49 left, dropping the
Spartans into a seven-point hole at 59-52.
"I ask my players to stick up for what they think is right and
I stick up for what I think is right," he said.
So did Eustachy.
Shortly after Izzo's technical, Eustachy's pressure cooker began to build. With 3:43 to play, Iowa State's Paul Shirley got locked up under the basket. As Shirley's shot went in, it was waved off by the officials. No basket. Instead, a fifth personal foul on Shirley.
Eustachy screamed at that turn of events, crucial at that
juncture with Iowa State's lead down to three points.
It would get worse.
All-American Marcus Fizer was already laboring under the burden
of four personal fouls, but Eustachy couldn't pull the centerpiece
of his team off the floor at that stage. So Fizer stayed. And so
did Nurse, also playing with four personals.
"We play hard, no matter what," he said. "If Coach catches
you playing soft because of fouls, he'll take you out. Whether
we're not in foul trouble or if we have a lot of fouls, we play the
same way."
Now, after being beat off the boards all night long, Michigan
State began asserting itself under the basket -- just in time. Andre
Hutson grabbed three rebounds in a row and the Spartans converted
each time to take the lead.
The game had turned. With 9.9 seconds left, Iowa State was down by
five points at 69-64 and desperate for baskets. Fizer went up for a
shot and again there was the dreaded whistle. Another personal
foul, this one Nurse's fifth.
Eustachy went ballistic. Players tried to keep their coach away, but he tore past them to confront officials Curtis Shaw, Frank Basone and Lonnie Dixon.
Quickly, Dixon called a technical.
That just incited Eustachy
even more. He was out on the floor, pushing players away, appearing
to make contact with Basone.
Quickly, he drew another technical. In an instant, the coach was
gone. Moments later, so was the game.
"The first technical foul was for excessive demonstration and
cursing," Shaw said. "The second technical was for coming out on
the floor and being outside the coaching box.
"We don't have any choice. It was done strictly by the book."
Afterwards, Eustachy was contrite.
"Officiating is part of the game and you've got to play through
it, whatever it is," he said. "You've got to play with what
you're dealt."
With the Palace at Auburn Hills rocking, Hutson dropped in two
free throws for the foul called against Nurse. Then A.J. Granger
dropped in four straight for the double technical on Eustachy.
In an instant, the game got away. Eustachy refused to comment on
the calls that sent him into a rage.
"I'm just going to say it's disappointing that it ended that
way, and I apologized to the team for that," he said.
It was a costly temper tantrum by a coach who turned a program
around this season. And when it was over, so was Iowa State's
season. |
