Overview
- UConn edged No. 1 Duke 73-72 on Sunday on Braylon Mullins’ last-second three to reach the Final Four.
- After the shot, video showed coach Dan Hurley moving head-to-head with referee Roger Ayers with less than a second remaining, and no technical foul was called.
- ESPN’s Seth Greenberg said Ayers told him the exchange was nothing and that he barely knew what incident people meant, while Hurley told Greenberg he respects Ayers and did not understand the uproar.
- Critics online and analysts such as Sam Dekker and NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay argued it should have drawn a technical under an NCAA rule that penalizes disrespectful contact with an official, which would have given Duke two free throws.
- Ayers’ account and the lack of an in-game whistle point to no further discipline as UConn prepares for Illinois, though Hurley’s recent ejection and $25,000 Big East fine continue to shape scrutiny of his sideline behavior.