Eustachy Rampage Costs ISU

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.

In the end, though, the coach's carrying on went too far in the NCAA tournament's 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. In the final minute, 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 the crewcut coach away but he tore past them to confront officials Curtis Shaw, Frank Basone and Lonnie Dixon.

Quickly, Dxon called a technical and 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.

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