No. 21 Arkansas skirted an epic upset in dramatic fashion, rallying from a five-point deficit in the last 90 seconds to defeat Winthrop, 84–83, at Bud Walton Arena on Tuesday night.
But that’s only the half of it.
Chaos ensued in the final 20 seconds after the Razorbacks (4-1) forced a turnover and scored the decisive fastbreak layup, sparking a last-second fracas that saw two players receive technical fouls and four get ejected after a pair of players fell to the floor.
“What do you do when it comes to officiating this mess?” play-by-play commentator Brett Dolan asked broadcast partner Manny Watkins.
“Can you just say, ‘Play on’ or does there have to be some sort of adjudication on this?”
Freshman guard Meleek Thomas, who scored a career-high 26 points, snagged the loose ball and dished to senior Nick Pringle, who spun through the lane for the go-ahead basket with 11.9 seconds remaining.
Winthrop (2–3) sophomore guard Seifeldin Hendawy fell under the basket trying to contest the layup, then Pringle got tangled up with Eagles senior center Logan Duncomb on top of Hendawy.
Duncomb fell back and brought Pringle down with him.
A furious Pringle pulled Duncomb up by his jersey and shoved him back down to the ground as players rushed the court and referees tried to break up the skirmish.
The teams retreated back to their respective benches, while the officiating crew reviewed the play for possible flagrant fouls.
“Duncomb kind of had an arm around Pringle’s neck,” said Watkins, breaking down the replay.
“But he’s got a teammate at his feet too,” retorted Dolan, “so he’s trying to get the ball and step around Hendawy.”
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After review, a referee announced that Duncomb and Pringle received double dead-ball contact technical fouls and that the penalties offset one another.
He also announced that four players — Arkansas’ DJ Wagner and Isaiah Sealy and Winthrop’s Ed Nnamoko and Pharrell Boyogueono — were ejected for coming onto the floor during the skirmish.
“Also,” the official added, “[Duncomb] has five fouls, and he has been disqualified as well.”
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Chaos eventually subsided, and Arkansas forced a bad shot from Eagles leading scorer Daylen Berry on the other end to seal a win.
Pringle expressed that the clash was simply the “heat of the moment” but still apologized to his fellow Razorbacks in the huddle, saying “I can’t have my team in those types of scenarios.”
In their second season under legendary coach John Calipari, the Razorbacks have won three straight games and will next take on Jackson State (0–3) at home Friday night.
Calipari expressed frustration with his team for how it handled the situation.
“Leaving the bench, you don’t know that? You don’t know that?” Calipari said. “Thank God they left the bench too or we lose the game, and what (does) it look like now?”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
