The refs swallowed their whistle on this one.
Purdue may have gotten away with a push in the back on the game-winning tip-in that sealed its last-second 79-77 win over Texas in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night.
Moments before his heroic bucket, while jockeying for position following Braden Smith’s miss, Trey Kaufman-Renn nudged Texas’ Dailyn Swain forward.
An overhead shot from the play showed Swain being moved out of the picture and Kaufman-Renn’s arm extending fully while doing so.
That extra space allowed the big man to jump uncontested and tip in the ball for the basket with 0.7 seconds remaining that ultimately advanced Purdue to the Elite Eight against No. 1 seed Arizona.
Had the referees called a foul, No. 11 seed Texas would have been awarded free throws on the other end and had the chance to steal the game.
Ultimately, the referees let them play, which most fans usually call for in such spots.
“A lot of times it’s not the first shot that goes,” Kaufman-Renn said. “They’re the tip-in at the end of games. (Coach Matt Painter) said that my four years here, so it’s kind of cool to actually experience that. … I just tried to get myself in position to get a rebound or a post if his defender cut him off.”
Some vented about the call on social media, arguing that Kaufman-Renn got away with one.
The referees called 18 fouls on Texas in the game to 14 on No. 2 seed Purdue.
There certainly is contact on this sequence in question, but those final-second plays sometimes are loosely officiated as Hail Mary attempts in the NFL.
There is always jostling for position on those jump-ball plays in the end zone, but it takes something egregious for the referees to actually blow their whistles.
The play is even more frustrating for Texas fans since, as Charles Barkley called out, the Longhorns did not have 7-footer Matas Vokietaitis on the court.
He perhaps could have held up better against Kaufman-Renn in that situation, who finished with 20 points and eight rebounds in 36 minutes.
“Look, we did get the stop. They got us with their size on the offensive rebound, and many times a game is won and lost not on the first shot, but on the second,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said.
“We could have done a better job of blocking out or competing, but the number one thing for us to have a chance today was to rebound with Purdue.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
