Thursday night's Sweet 16 game between No. 11 seed Texas and No. 2 seed Purdue didn't disappoint, that's for sure.
The Longhorns managed to tie up the score in the closing seconds of regulation thanks to a three-point play from Dailyn Swain. A few moments later, however, Trey Kaufman-Renn tipped in Braden Smith's missed shot to give the Boilermakers a 79-77 lead with 0.7 seconds remaining on the clock. That ended up being all she wrote for this thriller.
"I was standing under the rim, I was like 'Please get in there, please get in there,' and it did," Smith said. "Trey tipped it perfectly and I was like 'Thank God, thank God that went in.'"
While that was definitely an incredible ending for Purdue, there are plenty of fans who believe Kaufman-Renn got away with an offensive foul.
© Kyle Terada-Imagn Images.
In fact, there are a lot of people accusing Thursday night's officiating crew of favoring the Boilermakers.
"Texas was hosed in this one. Refs let Purdue get away with way more and then Texas would get balled for doing the same thing," one fan wrote on social media.
"This game was rigged," a second fan commented. "Refs had money on Purdue."
"Purdue is the luckiest team alive. Hard fought by Texas. Every bounce went Purdue’s way," another fan said. "Push in the back. Not getting called on Purdue tho. Ridiculous. Rigged."
What did Texas have to say about the loss to Purdue?
Despite all the outrage online, Texas coach Sean Miller wasn't interested in placing any blame on the officials. He simply believes Purdue was the better team in the rebounding department.
"The No. 1 thing for us to have a chance today was to rebound with Purdue," Miller said. "I thought we really struggled to rebound on defense."
With the loss in the books, Texas will finish this season with a 21-15 record.
Purdue, meanwhile, will take on either No. 1 seed Arizona or No. 4 seed Arkansas in the Elite Eight this Saturday.
