CLEVELAND – UConn senior Nika Muhl had simply hit a 3-pointer to chop Iowa’s lead within the NCAA Event semifinal sport to 1 level. Freshman KK Arnold had a steal. Momentum was turning, perhaps, in UConn’s favor and the Huskies had been rallying in opposition to the top-seeded Hawkeyes in entrance of a sellout crowd at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Friday night time.
Then, with 3.9 seconds left, UConn senior Aaliyah Edwards was known as for a foul on an unlawful display on Iowa’s Gabbie Marshall. Iowa received the ball again; UConn needed to foul. The momentum was gone and time ran out and the Huskies misplaced 71-69 to Iowa, their post-season run over.
X, previously Twitter, erupted with protests over the decision, each the timing of it and was it actually a foul? LeBron James weighed in: “Nahhhh, I ain’t rolling with that decision.” Dez Bryant known as the sport “extraordinarily rigged.” Swin Money posted: “That ref that known as that foul shouldn’t be in a position to name one other remaining 4 for a min!” LSU’s Angel Reese mentioned: “Wait was that display not set clear?” Even Sen. Chris Murphy weighed in: “What a joke of a name.”
“My standpoint, it was fairly clear,” Edwards mentioned after the sport.
“I imply, there’s most likely an unlawful display name that you could possibly make on each single possession,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma mentioned. “I simply know there have been three or 4 of them known as on us and I don’t suppose there have been any known as on them. So I assume we simply gotta get higher at not setting unlawful screens.”
Aaliyah Edwards was known as for an offensive foul on this possession. pic.twitter.com/1INxb2YHE2
— ESPN (@espn) April 6, 2024
Paige Bueckers took the excessive street when requested in regards to the name after the sport.
“We simply had a play, I assumed we executed it nicely,” she mentioned. “We had been going to get a shot off. The whistle blew. I didn’t see it. It was within the rear of me. I used to be simply making an attempt to return off the display.
“Everyone could make an enormous deal of that one single play, however not one single play wins a basketball sport or loses a basketball sport. I really feel there have been loads of errors that I made that would have prevented that play from even being that massive or inflicting us to lose the sport.
“Yeah, perhaps that was a tricky name for us, however I really feel like I might have finished a greater job stopping that from even taking place.”
Muhl mentioned she “may say some dangerous stuff,” so she didn’t wish to touch upon the decision however echoed Buecker’s sentiment.
“Even with that decision, I don’t suppose one name, one possession decides the sport,” she mentioned. “Much more goes into it. I can sit right here and rely all of the dangerous selections, errors I personally made. We will say that misplaced us the sport however that’s not the case.”
UConn was up by 12 within the first half and doing a great job of holding Iowa’s star Caitlin Clark down defensively. Within the second half, the protection broke down a bit and Iowa got here again. The Huskies, with a skinny bench, have needed to cope with foul bother each through the season and within the event however have managed it pretty nicely. KK Arnold and Ice Brady had 4 fouls however the others had been in fine condition on the finish of the sport.
Then got here the decision. Auriemma reacted in disbelief. However after the sport, like Bueckers, he spoke of missed alternatives like how UConn didn’t get a rebound on a missed free throw by Clark with three seconds left with the Huskies trailing by two.
“The display name and the missed free throw, I believe these two issues mixed – whether or not they had been the correct name or incorrect name, we’ve got no management over the decision on the display. We had no management over that,” he mentioned. “However we had management over whether or not we received the rebound or not. We had alternative on the very finish and if we safe that rebound, now we’ve got another probability to win the sport.
“We didn’t should win the sport by the way in which we performed the final couple of possessions.”
