Controversy simmers over non-foul call
By the time Baylor coach Kim Mulkey and senior Dijonai Carrington arrived for their postgame interviews, they had already seen photos and videos of the final play from multiple angles.
Trailing by one point with a chance to reach the Final Four of the women’s NCAA tournament and snap Connecticut’s streak of 12 straight trips, Carrington drove to her left and attempted a pullup jumper, leaping into Huskies defenders Aaliyah Edwards and Olivia Nelson-ododa.
Carrington’s shot was stuffed and fell harmlessly to the hardwood as the referee’s whistle remained silent, allowing No. 1 seed Connecticut to hold on for a 69-67 win against No. 2 seed Baylor in the Elite Eight on Monday in the Alamodome.
The play came under scrutiny across social media, with everyone from NBA star Lebron James to Uconn coach Geno Auriemma’s daughter calling the play a foul.
“I have still shots and videos from two angles,” Mulkey said after the game, holding her phone up to the Zoom camera. “One kid hits her in the face, and one kid hits her on the elbow.”
Mulkey’s play out of a timeout with 17.2 seconds remaining called for All-america forward Nalyssa Smith to get the ball in the post. If that avenue was closed, Carrington was the second option.
From Carrington’s perspective, officials could have called for fouls against either Bears player.
“I personally don’t see it as a controversial call,” Carrington said. “I’ve already seen the replay. One girl fouled me on my face, and one girl fouled me on my arm. At that point, you can’t do anything else.”
“Pictures don’t lie. Film don’t lie,” Carrington added. “It’s just a shame that they’re not able to see us play any more out here.”
Auriemma brushed off criticism of the officiating, wondering if anyone was clamoring to review the first-half calls that led to Baylor taking 11 free-throws to Connecticut’s two during the first 20 minutes.
He also jested that James never “won a game and decided to give it back because he looked at it and went, ‘That was a foul.’ ”
“You want to go back and check every single call through the entire game and add them all up? You don’t. That’s the nature of sports,” Auriemma said. “If they would’ve said it was a foul, I’d be on the other end going, ‘You can’t make that call a foul.’ So it is what it is. I’m not going to sit here and apologize for it.”
Auriemma said Uconn felt that the game had “gotten away from us” late in the third quarter, when Baylor built a 55-45 lead. But after Baylor guard Didi Richards, the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, left the game with a hamstring injury, Connecticut unleashed a 19-0 run to take a nine-point advantage early in the fourth quarter.
The Bears never regained the lead.
“The whole story of the game is Didi Richards goes down, and the whole momentum shifted,” Mulkey said.
Auriemma said the injury to Richards “opened some things for us on offense.” Huskies freshman guard Paige Bueckers, who scored a game-high 28 points, said Richards leaving the floor created a “huge change in momentum.”
“Obviously you hate to see somebody get injured, but I think we just tried to take advantage of it,” Bueckers said. “Attack their guards, attack the paint, try to drive and kick.”
Auriemma said a greater issue than any officiating decision was Baylor being tabbed as a No. 2 seed, saying the Bears were “clearly seeded way lower than they belong” and gave Uconn a test “tougher than a handful of national championship games, or any Final Four game that you want to mention.”
As Baylor’s season ends at 28-3, Mulkey said she will remember this team as being “very much Final Four and national championship worthy.” She said she feels the Bears were penalized by the NCAA selection committee for having six games canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.
“At some point, when you have the circumstances that we do, you need to do the eye test to see who deserves the No. 1 seeds,” Mulkey said. “I thought we were worthy of a number one seed.”