PITTSBURGH. Trailing by six points in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon, Illinois guard Alphonso Plummer stole the ball from Houston’s Jamal Shed and passed it to teammate R. J. Melendez.
Running out in front of the nearest defenseman, Melendez landed a light two-handed shot to cut Houston’s lead to four with 8 minutes and 40 seconds left in the second half of Illinois’ No. 4 against No. 5 Houston. to the defense of the Cougars.
But as Melendez hung on the ring to slow forward, a whistle was blown and official Brian O’Connell rated the defender as technical for hanging too long on the ring.
Just as it looked like the Illini would get a little momentum, it was ripped out when Houston’s Jamal Shed hit a technical free throw, extending the lead to five.
“It’s discouraging,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “Do you make a game that changes the pace of the game and then at that point it gets called? I can’t wait to see this.” [on replay].”
Illinois got a little closer in subsequent possession thanks to big man Kofi Cockburn’s three-point play, but couldn’t pass Houston, losing to the fifth-place Cougars 68-53 at the PPG Paints Arena.
Illinois lost 22-11 after a technical foul against Melendez.
Underwood said that after the game the referee told him that the foul should not have been called and the coach questioned if there was a personal motivation for calling the foul.
“[O’Connell] told me he should never have called it,” Underwood said. “Maybe it’s personal, I don’t know. Call it that when a kid has a crazy head going 100 miles an hour? We all talk about the health and safety of student athletes. Come on.
“And then kill the impulse like that? Terrible”.
Melendez said the referee didn’t give him an explanation for technical reasons, with Melendez saying he was just waiting to get his feet under him before falling off the rim to prevent injury.
“I don’t know what the problem is,” said a freshman from Puerto Rico. “I was going at full speed on that transition, so I was always thinking about the Paul George injury, what happened with the landing on the mat, on the ring, so I just try to keep, a little bit in rhythm, back on both feet. “
Under NCAA policy, a general technical foul report was not allowed because no explanation is given for individual game judgments.