The Kansas Jayhawks held on to beat the UCLA Bruins on Thursday night and now UCLA head coach Ben Howland isn't happy with the foul call on Mario Little that ended the game.
Here's the scene: Tyler Honeycutt hits a three to tie the game at 76 with about eight seconds left. Little gets the ball and takes it up court in a full sprint. Near the three-point line, he's tripped up by Malcolm Lee. It's hard to tell from replays if it was legitimately a foul or not but it appeared there was some sort of contact.
UCLA coach Ben Howland doesn't think that contact was a foul:
"I was watching the replay of the foul at the end of the game on my computer inside the locker room. It was really a poor way to end the game on that call. It was a loose ball, both (Mario) Little and Malcolm Lee are putting their hand on the ball at the same time with 0.9 seconds. Normally, you wouldn't make that kind of call at that point in the game unless it was very obvious. From what I saw, it was very disappointing to have the game end on that note."
OK, so let's say it was a foul. Do you really make that call with 0.7 seconds left? It seems to me that the final seconds of a game are kind of a free-for-all some of the time where only blatant fouls will be called. I'll admit, I was surprised by the call and apparently Howland was, too.
It's all the more reason for KU fans to be breathing a sigh of relief this morning. Kansas head coach Bill Self said after the game they were "fortunate" to win the game.