Joe Santoro: Fouls plaguing young Nevada Wolf Pack

Forgive Steve Alford for cringing just a bit this season each time he hears the piercing shriek of a referee’s whistle.

The shrill sound of those whistles, especially in the noise-starved arenas of this pandemic season, usually means trouble for Alford’s Nevada Wolf Pack.

“It’s hard on me, trying to manage the foul trouble,” said Alford, who averaged under two fouls a game (never more than 60 in a season) for the Indiana Hoosiers from 1983-87, despite rarely leaving the floor.

Alford this season has heard those whistles a Mountain West-high 293 times in 15 games. Just six of the 340 Division I teams in the nation have had more fouls whistled in their ears this season.

The most fouls in a Mountain West game this season so far are the 28 called against the Pack when it played New Mexico on New Year’s Eve. The Pack had 27 fouls called on them when it played Nebraska back in November, 26 on Jan. 2 against New Mexico, 25 against Air Force on Dec. 18 and 23 just this past Sunday at home against Fresno State.

“We got a little bit lazy in the second half,” Alford said Sunday night.

The biggest reason this season for the Wolf Pack’s foul trouble is simply youth and inexperience. That’s why when Alford hears an official’s whistle he almost doesn’t have to look up to see the guilty party.

Nearly one-third of all the fouls called on the Wolf Pack have been on two players who have combined to play 18 percent of the available minutes. It is the Wolf Pack’s 14-foot, 425-pound, rebounding, shot-blocking, dunking and fouling machine of a two-headed center rotation.

Sophomore K.J. Hymes has been called for a team-high 50 fouls this year while fellow sophomore Warren Washington has heard the whistle 49 times. Desmond Cambridge is third on the team in fouls with 40 but he has played 209 more minutes than Hymes and 147 more than Washington.

Hymes, who comes off the bench, is averaging one foul for each 4.9 minutes he is on the court while Washington, who starts, fouls once every 6.3 minutes. The Wolf Pack’s other backup center, 6-8 junior Robby Robinson, has been called for 30 fouls in just 205 minutes, or once every 6.8 minutes. That’s 129 fouls on the Pack centers in just 757 minutes (once every 5.9 minutes). Alford hears a whistle and that’s his clue to make a substitution in the front court.

By comparison, point guard Grant Sherfield has been called for a foul just 18 times this year, a fact that has saved this Pack season so far. Sherfield has played a team-high 511 minutes, committing one foul every 28 minutes.

Hymes and Washington, to be sure, mean well. They are, after all, young, energetic, tall and talented and eager to please. And part of their job, no doubt, is to foul and not simply let opposing big men dunk the Wolf Pack into oblivion. But they are making Alford’s life a bit more difficult as he tries to manage a roster that is about as deep as the line waiting to file into Lawlor Events Center this year.

“There are just too many games when guys don’t get in a rhythm because of fouling,” said Alford who belongs on the NCAA’s all-time rhythm team because of what he did for coach Bobby Knight for four years at Indiana.

Hymes and Washington, make no mistake, do a lot of good things for the Pack. They rebound, swat away opposing shots and have a presence in the paint that is rare in college basketball.

Hymes, for example, had 13 points in 23 minutes over two games against Fresno State last week to go along with five rebounds and three blocks. Washington had 22 points, eight rebounds and a block in his 49 minutes. But the two also combined for 15 fouls in 72 minutes.

“They are starting to get that confidence to them,” Alford said. “It’s just that foul trouble.”

It’s just that foul trouble that just might make or break this Pack season. Hymes and Washington have combined to play 37 minutes a game this year. Washington is sixth on the team with 307 minutes, even though he has started all 15 games, while Hymes is seventh at 245.

The most Hymes and Washington have played together on the floor at the same time was in the first four games of the year when both started. The two played together for 13 minutes in Game 1 against North Dakota State, just six minutes in Game 2 against Nebraska, 14 minutes in Game 3 against Pacific and 11 minutes in Game 4 against San Francisco.

Hymes went to the bench for Game 5 and has not returned to the starting lineup. He usually gets on the floor now to spell Washington.

Against Fresno State in two games last weekend, for example, Hymes and Washington were on the floor together for about six whole minutes, all in the first half on Sunday when Robinson started for an absent Zane Meeks. Hymes and Washington replaced each other on the floor nine times in the win over Fresno State on Friday and five times in the second half on Sunday.

“Their minutes will go up if the fouling stops,” Alford said, dangling a basketball carrot in front of his two big, young centers, and letting Pack fans dream of a Hymes-Washington Twin Towers scenario that could dominate the Mountain West someday.

But when will it stop? The last thing, after all, anyone wants is a pair of passive 7-foot centers afraid to foul, fight for rebounds and challenge shots.

Hymes and Washington, after all, have a history of hacking and fouling their way through games. As a freshman last year Hymes committed 101 fouls in 428 minutes (one every 4.2 minutes). Washington’s first season of college basketball saw him commit 54 fouls in 211 minutes for Oregon State in 2018-19 (one foul every 3.9 minutes).

So the problem won’t likely disappear overnight after taking some sort of foul vaccine. A little Pack patience is required here.

Hymes and Washington, after all, aren’t exactly breaking new ground in Wolf Pack history.

Edgar Jones, perhaps the best center in Wolf Pack history, was constantly waging a war with the officials from 1975-79, averaging nearly four fouls a game in his 101-game career. Pete Padgett, who never shied away from physical contact, averaged roughly 3.5 fouls a game from 1972-76. Ric Herrin was called for 3.7 fouls a game from 1989-93.

Jones, Padgett and Herrin, though, are three of the top scorers in Pack history because all three found a way to stay on the court despite the evil whistles of officials.

But other Pack players, not as talented as Jones, Padgett and Herrin, were also foul machines that barely broke a sweat between whistles.

Tony Baloquin averaged one foul every 5.7 minutes in 1981-82 and one every 6.8 minutes in 1980-81. Gabe Parizzia averaged one foul every 6.8 minutes in 1988-89. David Wood averaged 3.8 fouls a game over two seasons (1985-87).

Rob Martin picked up 80 fouls in just 682 minutes in 1979-80 (one every 8.5 minutes) and Earl Hill had one every 4.1 minutes on that same team.

Some of the Wolf Pack’s best teams over the last two decades also had players with foul-filled resumes.

The Wolf Pack teams from 2004-07 that went to four consecutive NCAA tournaments had Jermaine Washington, Sean Paul, Chad Bell, Demarshay Johnson, David Ellis, Matt LaGrone, Tyrone Hansen and JaVale McGee who all were on the officials’ radar.

McGee, Ellis, Hansen and LaGrone combined to average one foul every 6.2 minutes in 2006-07. Johnson and Bell combined for one foul every 6.9 minutes in 2005-06.

Washington averaged a foul every 7.3 minutes over two seasons (2003-05). Bell also was called once every 5.9 minutes in 2004-05. Devonte Elliott was called for one foul every 5.6 minutes over three seasons (2010-13).

Marko Cukic got called for a foul every 3.8 minutes in 2009-10. Richie Phillips got called once every 3.3 minutes in 2008-09. And then there was Kaileb Rodriguez who was whistled once every 5.4 minutes over two seasons (2014-16).

Dario Hunt is a great example for Hymes and Washington to emulate. The former Pack center played in 132 games over four seasons (2008-12), starting 124. The 6-9 center improved his foul trouble each season, averaging one foul every 5.5 minutes his freshman year, one every 7.8 minutes his sophomore year, one every 9.4 minutes as a junior and one every 11.8 minutes as a senior.

It is likely not a coincidence that the Wolf Pack went 28-7 during Hunt’s senior year. The 2011-12 team, coached by David Carter, had just five games with 20 or more fouls.

Coach Eric Musselman’s last three Pack teams (2016-19), which all went to the NCAA tournament, were called for 20 or more fouls just 25 times over 106 games.

The same was true for Mark Fox’s three NCAA tournament teams from 2005-07, which had 20 or more fouls in a game just 20 times over 99 games. Trent Johnson’s lone NCAA tournament team at Nevada (2003-04) had just 10 games (out of 34) with 20 or more fouls after 19 such games (out of 32) the year before.

This year’s Wolf Pack has committed 20 or more fouls in a game just six times, somehow winning five of those six games because the bulk of the foul trouble has been usually confined to the center position. The Pack is 10-5 right now, thanks to Alford’s sleight of hand in his frontcourt and the ability of Sherfield and Cambridge to stay on the floor.

Juggling foul-plagued centers and hoping everyone else avoids the whistles, though, is not a formula for long-term success on which Alford wants to base this entire season. Alford’s first Pack team last year, after all, committed 20 or more fouls 15 times in 31 games and lost eight of those 15 games.

“You can’t give a team 37 free throws,” said Alford, referring Fresno State’s frequent trips to the stripe on Sunday. Fortunately for the Pack, though, the Bulldogs made just 23 of those 37 free throws and lost 79-65.

Alford knows the value of a free throw. He is, after all, one of the best free throw shooters in NCAA history, making a stunning 90 percent (535-of-596) of his free throws over four years at Indiana.

“Keeping a team off the foul line is crucial,” Alford said. “If we’re going to take the next step defensively, this young team has to learn it has to keep teams off the foul line.”