Kentucky players looked stunned after a late offensive foul was called on Collin Chandler. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Just when you think an unpredictable Kentucky season cannot get any crazier, it does.
For the second straight game, Kentucky blew a nine-point lead and lost. This time it was 75-74 at Auburn in a game that might finally have broken Big Blue hearts for the last time this season.
Kentucky overcame a 66-60 deficit in the final four minutes to take a 72-71 lead on an Otega Oweh dunk with 48 seconds to play after a Brandon Garrison steal. Denzel Aberdeen hit two free throws with 18.8 seconds left after the Cats got a stop to make it 74-71.
Auburn’s Thomas Pettiford drove into Aberdeen with 14 seconds left, drew a foul and hit two free throws. After an Auburn timeout, UK guard Collin Chandler was called for an offensive foul on the inbounds pass for pushing off to get open. He was a slight push at best of an Auburn player who had his arm draped around Chandler. Kentucky coach Mark Pope leaped in the air in disbelief but there is no monitor review of a common foul.
That gave Auburn a chance to win and it did on a follow shot with 1.2 seconds left after UK stopped the first shot. This time there was no LSU miracle as Malachi Moreno fumbled the contested inbounds pass from Chandler and Auburn got a CONTROVERSIAL win.
WLAP radio personality Larry Glover was infuriated by the call and blasted the officials on his postgame radio show with former UK All-American Kenny Walker.
“How can a professional referee blow that call? It was clearly a flop,” Glover said. “Middle school referees would not have missed that call. That was clearly a flop. And a flop is a technical foul. The referees were clearly influenced by the home crowd, and we see it and they clearly were (influenced) tonight.”
Kentucky coach Mark Pope refrained from saying a lot when asked about the play during his postgame press conference.
“We are not allowed to talk about the referees. But you guys saw it. Sometimes I think it feels personal,” Pope said. “So I am not allowed to comment on the referees. I won’t call out the referees. It was unfortunate. It didn’t cost us the game. We were in control of the game.”
That’s the coach speak you can expect as few coaches will say what they really want to at a press conference.
Pope didn’t offer any more on the UK Radio Network postgame show with Tom Leach.
“We don’t talk about officiating. We just have to find a way to win games. That’s what that is,” Pope said.
However, Kentucky Sports Radio beat writer Jack Pilgrim had a post on X that was more insightful based on what he heard Pope tell UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart in the hallway leaving the press conference.
“If those ?!?!? try to fine me, they can’t. I didn’t say a word about how they cheated us,” Pope said according to Pilgrim.
Oweh, who had a career-high 29 points after getting 28 in Tuesday’s loss to Georgia, was hoping to make the inbounds pass to Chandler when the offensive foul was called.
“It was really unfortunate. We were playing a certain way the whole game. The refs even said they were going to let us play,” Oweh said. “A play like that was slow developing. He (Chandler) didn’t do a whole lot. It was a weird whistle. but even with that call, we could have won if we just got that board.”
Bingo. Just avoid getting up a second shot after the Cats forced a missed shot and Kentucky still wins. That’s on Kentucky, not the officials.
Pope did emphasize that point.
“We are in control. It does not matter how frustrated fans or other people are. We are still in control. It can be frustrating and be driving you crazy, but we are in control. We just needed to make one more play,” Pope said.
2 Responses
Rebound the basketball instead of Auburn at the end..As far as the call , It was a crap call. But you continue to lose leads in games as well.. Nobody has cheated UK this year worse than UK
The foul called on Chandler at the end of the game was a bullshit call; he was being held and Philon flopped. The 4 second half turnovers Chandler made did have an impact on the game; going 1-6 from the arc didn't help us either. Garrison letting his man run free for a layup hurt too; so did him standing watching Auburn's last basket being made after 2 attempts…he watched it happen 1 foot away and never went for either rebounds. Johnson walked the ball across the halfcourt line only to loose it for an Auburn layup. Dioubate going 1-5 from the field hurt. We did enough to lose the game without the home cooking we got served. Good teams win games in February; bad teams don't…loosing 3 in a row in February qualifies us as a bad team and we still have 4 games to go and are only favored to win one. This results in 4 consecutive seasons with double digit losses…2 from Calipari, 2 from Pope. The only other time that has happened was Tubby's last 2 seasons combined with Billy Clyde's 2 seasons. I like Pope and had high hopes for him, but he has failed his mid-term and final. It matters little that you understand the assignment if you fail the test. I don't think another season will get any better. Tubby and Calipari did the honorable thing and left; Billy Clyde had to be fired. Will Pope do the honorable thing or will he insist on making us become the next "Indiana"? Barnhart will not fire him even though that is what needs to happen. Kentucky needs a coach, not a cheerleader to get this program back on track.