While it may have been a factor, that's life on the road and has been forever. I prefer to concentrate on plays such as Neal's and Fitz's consecutive misses on the front end of a one and one, those are the sequences that cost you games.
Absolutely no one has denied that our play down the stretch contributed to our defeat.
Limit your focus if you wish, but I prefer to explore all the various factors that played a role in the loss, including but not limited to the poor officiating. Those missed free throws didn't cost us the game any more (or less) than the terrible calls and non-calls in the final minute of the game did.
If Wright had been called for traveling on his drive that, with the plus-one, gave Cincy the lead, we'd have had the ball with the lead. Or if, on the ensuing play, they'd called the foul that was undeniably committed against Osby on his scoring play, we might well have won, as his free throw, if good, would have given us a two-point lead, and the Bearcats would only have tied the game with their final basket.
Again, no one's denying that Neal's missed free throws hurt or that our defensive failings in the final couple of minutes played a role. But no more so than the lousy officiating.
The difference is, of course, our performance was within our own control -- it's the factor(s) we can do something about -- but we're still fully entitled to call out the officiating. It helped Cincy get on a roll they otherwise would not have gotten on. A young team on the road is already having to deal with a team playing on its home court and a hostile crowd. When the officials decide to side with the home team, too, that's a recipe for disaster, as we saw.
We overcame the consistently poor officiating for most of the game, but eventually Cincy's press (which was aided by the lack of whistles) and the suddenly rowdy crowd rattled us. We obviously have to get to the point that that doesn't happen.
