Iowa’s women’s basketball team was struggling to maintain a close lead in Friday’s Final Four game against UConn. Not only had a six-point lead shrunk to one but the Huskies had the ball in the final seconds. Then, things got controversial.
UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards set a screen in an attempt to create an opening for her teammate, Paige Bueckers. In the process, she made contact with Iowa’s Gabbie Marshall.
A foul was called on Edwards, giving the ball to the Hawkeyes.
Was it the right call? That’s a debatable matter.
A lot of fans saw it as the right call, even if it didn’t come in an ideal spot.
Absolutely the right call. That is 100 percent a moving screen. https://t.co/EiBOI3fRAc
— kevin harrish (@Kevinish) April 6, 2024
I don’t always agree with referees, but this is clearly an illegal screen. I don’t see the controversy. She was late and initiated the contact. An extremely hard call to make that late, but by rule, that’s illegal
#FinalFour https://t.co/Vh799a90Kn — Cody Guinn (@Cody_Guinn) April 6, 2024
The live shot is the best angle to see she’s clearly lunging at the girl when the contact is made. It didn’t need to be called but it’s not some egregious call either https://t.co/BTmizzwcEf
— Connor Deitrich (@CDeitrich22) April 6, 2024
Other fans saw it as a missed call — or at least one that shouldn’t have been made in that spot.
Put that whistle away https://t.co/dPKd0JDx3F
— DaVonté (@davontestewart) April 6, 2024
Unless the player from Iowa is literally knocked unconscious on that screen, you cannot call that.
That said, amazing game and fantastic broadcast! https://t.co/r4Yz5xU1hW
— Phil Giubileo (@philgpbp) April 6, 2024
Following the game, former Tennessee star and ESPN analyst Andraya Carter disagreed with the call, saying “that call sucked” in an interview with an agreeing Scott Van Pelt.
Of course, that call didn’t exactly end the game. As Carter detailed, UConn put Caitlin Clark on the line. While she made the first free throw, her second missed, giving the Huskies another chance. Only, Iowa’s Sydney Affolter came down with the rebound. Bueckers did tie up with Affolter, forcing a jump. But the Hawkeyes had the possession arrow.
Clark then made a heads-up play on the ensuing inbounds pass, throwing the ball off of Bueckers, who had her back turned. With that, the clock ran down to under a second.
Iowa’s next inbounds pass ran the remaining clock off, ending the game.
Expect to hear more about this controversial call in the days ahead.