On a day of college hoops that featured massive SEC clashes, the second Saint Mary’s-Gonzaga matchup of the season, and a non-conference showdown at MSG between Duke and Illinois, the game of the day was without question a late-night tip-off between Arizona and BYU. The Wildcats and Cougars combined for 191 points and neither team led by more than 6 points in the 2nd half, but unfortunately, what was a barnburner for 39 minutes and 58 seconds will be tarnished ever-so-slightly by a horrible call that ended up deciding the game.
This foul just won BYU the game at Arizona.
Thoughts
— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) February 23, 2025
Any angle you watch the play from it’s clear there was no foul, and that was the consensus opinion of the game’s commentators and everyone else in the arena who wasn’t wearing BYU gear. That consensus includes Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd, who didn’t shy away from stating what he believed about the call.
“It’s a bad call. I mean like, whatever. What am I going to say? You hate for a game to be decided by that,” Lloyd said after the game, per Ben Sherman of Sports Illustrated. “He (Trey Townsend) played good defense. The guy’s pivoting, pivoting, pivoting, throws his shoulder into him, throws up a shot and falls down. It’s a foul with two seconds to go. I mean listen, it’s the Big 12. That’s what I’m told. And the guy who called it is one of the best refs. So we’ve got to live with it.”
The response by Lloyd is significantly more family friendly than many coaches around the country would provide following a loss in this manner. In fact, if Lloyd would’ve went ballistic to the point that he got ejected from the game and had to be carried off of Lute & Bobbi Olson Court by five members of security, I would’ve understood. And boy, can you imagine how much content ClutchPoints would’ve gotten out of that?
For Arizona, it’s a third loss in their last four games following a crucial midseason stretch in which they won 13 of 14 games after a disappointing 4-5 start. The home defeat to BYU drops them into a 2nd-place tie with Texas Tech in the Big 12 standings.
For BYU, the win at the McKale Center further strengthens a NCAA Tournament resume that was on life support only two weeks ago. But four straight wins against West Virginia, Kansas State, Kansas and Arizona now have the Cougars breathing easier after coming into the weekend as one of the last four teams in the field in my Bracketology projections.
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