LSU coach outraged Is that basketball unmasks officiating absurdity
According to LSU coach Kim Mulkey, the result was a product of her girls’ performance, but she also questioned the referees’ actions. Mulkey pointed out that there were officiating issues during the game that hindered the Tigers and possibly prevented them from beating Alabama.
The match between these two great college women’s basketball teams was heated. While LSU’s coach has her arguments about this third loss for her team, there were also failures on the court.
Mulkey noted that they missed free throws, failed to grab rebounds, and lost some crucial shots. However, the LSU coach also expressed her indignation over the game’s officiating.
“It was a poorly officiated game. And I bet if you ask (Alabama coach) Kristy Curry, she’ll say the same thing. It wouldn’t have mattered if we had won or lost. Too many stoppages. Think about all the things you saw happening tonight,” LSU’s coach stated.
This was a game where the officiating was intense. A total of 39 fouls were called, and 46 free throws were awarded. Additionally, three starting players (LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson, Alabama’s Aaliyah Nye, and Sarah Ashlee Barker) were ejected during the game. To top it off, another player received a technical foul. All of this made LSU’s coach feel greatly frustrated.
Beyond the aforementioned fouls, further highlighting LSU’s coach’s frustration, the game was stopped twice during the last two minutes of overtime to review fouls.
As a result, the referees called fouls on both Johnson and Barker. The first for blocking while trying to stop one of Barker’s shots. However, after review, the officiating team decided to sanction an intentional foul on Barker after seeing her elbow collide with Johnson’s face.
Consequently, both players were ejected. Additionally, LSU then received two free throws and a possession. Although it was in their favor, LSU’s coach believes this was one of the many actions that interrupted the game’s flow.
“Is that basketball?” said LSU’s coach. “I don’t even know some things. I was asking questions like, ‘What is that play? What are you saying? Why are you going to the monitor now?’” Mulkey commented visibly agitated.
Despite the referees’ actions during the game, LSU’s coach assured that it was not what led her team to defeat. “(The referees) had nothing to do with our loss,” Mulkey asserted. “We had the opportunity to win the game, didn’t we? And we didn’t. Because we didn’t deserve to win. Alabama deserved to win that game. It just didn’t work. For either team.”
It was a close match, and with this defeat, LSU’s coach and her girls will now have to recover for the end of the regular season. The next game will be at home; let’s see if the team can make their mark against Ole Miss and solidify their position as the second seed in the NCAA tournament.