The Texas Longhorns and Arizona Wildcats met on Sunday afternoon in the second round of the 2011 NCAA tournament bracket and it was quite the game to say the least. Arizona walked away with a 70-69 victory moving on in the 2011 NCAA tournament bracket but it's the way they did that has folks still talking about the game.
With about 14 seconds remaining, and Arizona down two, Arizona's Derrick Williams went up for a shot only to see it blocked by Tristan Thompson.
The rebound came to Jordan Hamilton who incredibly, boneheadedly called a timeout! I don't care what the situation is there, you don't call a timeout. Everyone is talking about what happened next but, to me, that was the reason Texas lost the game. If they don't call that timeout, Hamilton is going to the line with a chance to put the Longhorns up by four. There's no excuse for that.
But what happened next....
After the timeout, Texas' Cory Joseph was throwing the ball in and received a five second violation. Replays are floating around showing it was really 4.6 seconds but Texas never would have been in that situation if not for that timeout by Hamilton.
I agree Texas fans could be upset with the five-second call -- it was questionable but we're also talking about a third of a second without a stopwatch -- but you have to at least acknowledge that timeout. It doesn't seem anyone is talking about the timeout taken by Hamilton.
Why would he take it? There's no substitution in the world that would make it worth it. When you're up two points, with 14 seconds remaining, it is standard operating procedure -- you don't stop the clock.
So Arizona moves on and Texas stays at home. Rough way for UT to lose.
Here's video of the five-second call: