TCU basketball says it’ll handle controversial no-call in Arizona loss ‘the right way’
TCU basketball had one of the program’s best seasons end in controversy on Sunday night.
With the game tied at 75-75 with 12.9 seconds left in regulation, the Horned Frogs had the ball and a chance to stun 1-seed Arizona in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Frogs guard Mike Miles had the ball in his hands but struggled to break free from a trap applied by Arizona center Christian Koloko and guard Dalen Terry just past midcourt.
Miles backtracked and made heavy contact with Terry, losing the ball. No foul was called and the Wildcats almost pulled off a buzzer-beater on the other end but Terry dunked it after time expired. Arizona went on to an 85-80 victory in overtime.
“It hurt,” Miles said. “We deserved to win that game and we didn’t win. As far as the last play, they double-teamed me. I wouldn’t say it was not a foul, but it was a foul. They didn’t call it. That’s what it is.”
That no-call was a central talking point during both team’s postgame news conferences.
“I think everyone’s seen it, is talking about it,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “We’re going to handle it the right way. That’s what we discussed. And because that’s what these guys have done. They’ve been class all year long and we’re going to handle it the right way. So we’ll defer to — we’ve got the best officials in the country working these games. And that’s the situation we were in.”
As far as Arizona is concerned, it executed coach Tommy Lloyd’s defensive strategy to perfection. Koloko said he was “scared” when Lloyd called the trap but it worked out.
“I ain’t going to lie. I was scared when Coach asked us because I knew he was going to try to get at me and try to get a foul,” Koloko said. “I think I did a pretty good job just protecting my hip, like Coach always says, protecting my hip. We knew he [Miles] was going to try to be a hero and we wanted to trap him. He turned the ball over. That’s what we wanted to do and it worked.”
Added Lloyd: “I had a good idea they were going to put the ball in Miles’ hands. He’s going to go left and try to come off a ball screen up top. So we had an agile, mobile group out there. What the heck, 10 seconds to go in the game, let’s throw a trap on him and see what happens. And we’ll live with it. Because we did a good job getting him to back up on his dribble.
“I know there’s a lot of speculation, was it a foul, whether he was over and back. I’m not watching the foul, I’m watching him go over and back. I don’t know how much time. I saw the ball pop loose. I thought we had it [the dunk at the buzzer]. I thought there was enough time. That would have been a cool way to end it. But, you know what, there was nothing wrong with that going to overtime and having to play another five minutes and find a way.”
At the end of the day, the record books will show a turnover by Miles with one second left and a heartbreaking loss for the Frogs.
TCU ended a 35-year drought between NCAA Tournament victories by knocking off Seton Hall, 69-42, in the first round on Friday night. The Frogs have yet to win multiple games in any single NCAA Tourney.
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 12:49 AM.
