FAU held the lead by one when the unfathomable happened to head coach Mike Jarvis. He was given three technical fouls and ejected with 2:01 left in the first half after a heated argument with the referees on Jan. 22.
A fourth technical foul was called on assistant coach Mike Jarvis II on the same play, allowing the Warhawks’ Afram Nweke to sink seven of eight free throws. As 18 seconds ran off the clock after ULM’s inbound, Thomas Malcom hit a 3-pointer to conclude the 10 point possession, giving his team a nine point advantage that ULM would never relinquish.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” says head coach Jarvis, who has 20 years of collegiate coaching experience.
The officials never explained the ruling on the trio of technical fouls handed to Jarvis. Any member of a game that receives two technical fouls is automatically ejected from the contest.
Both Jarvis’, and much of the bench, were upset at a call that gave ULM the ball when a pass from the Owls’ Alex Tucker was clearly knocked out of bounds by one of the Warhawks. Jarvis will be suspended for FAU’s next game. Mike Jarvis II will handle the head coaching duties.
“My assistant did such a great job I might promote him for the next game,” says Jarvis.
FAU (4-16, Sun Belt 0-8) was up nine with 11:14 left in the first half, then were down 17 with 13:35 left in the second half before the Owls’ Paul Graham III led a late-game charge that brought the Owls within two before the final buzzer sounded with ULM (6-13, 2-6) getting a 94-88 victory in the Burrow.
“We have our most difficult time when we are up. There was no doubt in my mind that we would fight and crawl when [we] were down. We’ve done that all year,” says Jarvis.
The roller coaster ride of a game is the latest close defeat for FAU. The Owls have lost 11 straight.
Graham, who sat out the last game versus North Texas after missing the plane, did not start in tonight’s matchup.
“Paul [Graham] learned a lesson last week, that’s over with. Paul’s was a strategic move. I don’t know if that will change,” says Jarvis.
He said Graham didn’t start because the team would have the best chance at winning with Graham coming off the bench as a front court or a back court player. This is due to the lack of depth because of all the players out for the Owls.
The best strategy could have been the old “less is more” theory. FAU turned the ball over 18 times, eight more than ULM. That, plus the 10 point technical foul fiasco was a big difference maker in the game.
