Ben Howland contacts NCAA about foul
By Peter Yoon
ESPNLosAngeles.com
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UCLA coach Ben Howland said Saturday that he spoke with
John Adams, the NCAA coordinator of men's basketball officials, about the foul called against Malcolm Lee. in the waning moments of the Bruin's 77-76 loss Thursday at Kansas.
"I gave them my two cents," Howland said. "But the game is over. They won, we lost. We're moving forward now. Bad calls happen it's just unfortunate it would happen at that point in the game where it would decide a game."
The score was tied, 76-76, with less than a second remaining when Lee was called for a questionable foul that sent Kansas' Mario Little to the free throw line. He made one with 0.7 seconds to play and Kansas won the game.
Adams told ESPN.com's Andy Katz that Doug Sirmons, the official who blew the whistle, made the right call.
"The refs reacted properly," said Adams said. "The only argument you can make is whether or not it was a foul.
It's a foul. The Kansas kid has control of the ball. It's incredibly unfortunate to end the game like that. But
I've looked at the tape this morning and Doug called the foul like he's supposed to."
Howland said he received several phone calls expressing sympathy, but is content to have spoken his peace and is ready to put that game behind him.
"It's over," Howland said. "There's no going back and changing anything. We had a six-point lead in the second half. We've got to do a better job being able to handle that. That's the biggest thing."