No. 7 Kentucky deserves plenty of credit for its gutsy win over No. 10 Santa Clara, but this game unfortunately had a controversial no-call from the referees.
Allen Graves made a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining to give Santa Clara a 73-70 lead. Before Kentucky inbounded the basketball, Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek tried calling a timeout so he can talk over strategy.
The refs ultimately didn't see Sendek calling timeout, and the rest is history. Oweh sprinted up the court and drilled a game-tying 3-pointer to send the game into overtime. It wasn't easy, but the Wildcats finally asserted their dominance during overtime against the Broncos.
After this thrilling game went final, countless fans accused the refs of intentionally ignoring Santa Clara's request for a timeout.
© Jeff Le-Imagn Images.
"Watch the Santa Clara coach right as they make the 3 to take the lead…he goes to call the timeout immediately but doesn’t get it granted….Ref has to be aware of this no?!?!?" ESPN's Dan Orlovsky wrote on social media.
"That's actually so bad," one fan said. "I wonder if he just couldn’t hear him cuz of how loud it was or if it was actually rigged."
"He gets that timeout, Santa Clara moves on," a second fan commented. "These refs need to be fired."
"This was one of the nastiest rigged games i’ve witnessed in a while down the stretch. Couldn’t be more obvious refs had an assignment to advance Kentucky," a social media user added.
Kentucky survives and advances.
Despite all the outrage online, Kentucky has booked a spot in the Round of 32.
Next up for Kentucky is a showdown with either No. 2 Iowa State or No. 15 Tennessee State.
If the Wildcats want to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16, they'll need Oweh to keep on shining. He finished Friday's game with 35 points on 11-of-24 shooting.
