team foul

noun

Definition of team foul

: one of a designated number of personal fouls the players on a basketball team may commit during a given period of play before the opposing team begins receiving bonus free throws

Recent Examples of team foul from the Web

And that makes sense: why would a trailing team foul and give their opponents a high-percentage chance to get closer to the target score?

— tim hackett, SI.com, "The Big Target: Nick Elam Wants to Eliminate Intentional Fouling," 26 Apr. 2018
The other team fouled hard, were good chair-handlers and sharpshooters.

— lane hartill, The Christian Science Monitor, "A journey from distrust to teammates," 4 Apr. 2018
With six minutes left, the Bruins recorded their fifth team foul, which would place the Knights on the free throw line for the remainder of the game.

— oregonian/oregonlive sports, OregonLive.com, "George Fox loses to Wartburg in 2nd round of NCAA Division III women's tournament," 4 Mar. 2018
With this year's tournament featuring quarters, the rules on team fouls and the shooting bonus will be implemented the same way as last season.

— khadrice rollins, SI.com, "NCAA Experimenting With Quarters, Longer Three-Point Line for 2018 NIT Games," 27 Feb. 2018
Regular season favorites -- Buffalo (16-6, 8-1) and Toledo (15-7, 7-2): More than once, Buffalo coach Nate Oats has said his team fouls too much, with 20 or more in every MAC game but two.

— elton alexander, cleveland.com, "MAC basketball 2018: Buffalo, Toledo still favorites at midseason," 1 Feb. 2018
Summer Creek had six team fouls at the end of the third quarter, so Kingwood coach Monte Cole adjusted his strategy, knowing the first foul would put them in the bonus.

— elliott lapin, Houston Chronicle, "Finch's 27 points propel Summer Creek to victory," 5 Jan. 2018
Huskers have 5 team fouls, with Glynn Watson Jr. getting his second on a charge call with 15 minutes left in the first half.

— erin sorensen, ajc, "Nebraska-Kansas basketball: Recap, score, analysis (December 16, 2017)," 16 Dec. 2017
The foul disparity even out more in the second half as the Blazers finished with a 26 team fouls compared to 19 for the Clippers.

— mike richman, OregonLive.com, "Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers sink Trail Blazers at buzzer, 104-103: Rapid reaction," 26 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'team foul.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.