Watch it again: Clock operator thought refs were calling foul or violation in TCU’s loss
The evidence keeps coming in.
A pivotal non-call in the waning seconds of TCU’s loss to Arizona Sunday night continues to reverberate across college basketball after it was noticed that the clock stopped briefly with 2.2 seconds left in regulation.
Horned Frogs’ guard Mike Miles was bumped by the Wildcats’ Dalen Terry near mid-court with the game tied and the final seconds ticking down. Terry bumped Miles who was attempting to dribble on TCU’s side of the court for a last-second shot attempt. Instead, he fell to the floor, Terry picked up the loose ball, and nearly completed a game-winning dunk before time expired.
Luckily, for TCU, replays confirmed that Terry still had possession of the ball when the clock hit zero, which forced overtime. Top-seeded Arizona won 85-80 to advance to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
Replays, however, not only confirmed Terry’s dunk was too late, but they also confirm that the clock operator stopped the clock when they assumed either Miles was fouled or committed an over-and-back violation when he was forced over the mid-court line with the ball. The stoppage, of course, gave Terry an extra second to attempt his game-winning dunk. If he had converted it and Arizona had won the game on that play, the entire moment would be an even bigger travesty for TCU.
TCU coach Jamie Dixon was reserved in his comments about the controversy after the game.
“Certainly a lot of questions will be asked, but we’ll handle it the right way and do the right things because that’s what they’ve done all year long,” Dixon said. “I think everyone’s seen it, is talking about it. 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. That’s the situation we were in.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 2:05 PM.
