Virginia guard Ty Jerome: I double-dribbled and knew refs wouldn't call it

This won’t go over well on the Plains.

Virginia guard Ty Jerome is now telling reporters that he purposely double dribbled knowing the refs were not going to call it.

“I knew they weren’t gonna call double-dribble after they let that one go. … It’s hard to be a ref. They miss a lot. So you’ve got to play on,” Jerome says in a quote shared to social media by USA Today’s George Schroeder.

Auburn led 62-60 with 5.4 seconds left when UVA in-bounded the ball to Ty Jerome. He then drove up the court and lost his dribble, picked it up and started dribbling again. The ball was never touched by a defender, meaning Jerome double-dribbled by definition. Fans are pointing out that it’s hard to believe Jerome was able to think this through, as he is claiming, since it all happened so fast.

Did the refs miss one? #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/WDet9obKZV

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 7, 2019

He had no clue he double dribbled and certainly didn’t think in that split second that they wouldn’t call it! That’s laughable. Give us all break!

— Sarge_AU (@rsaucer) April 7, 2019

I’m sure he actually thought that in the heat of the moment 🙄. He’s just trying to justify the call after the game. He knows he got away with a rule violation & he knows down deep that UVA doesn’t deserve to be in the Final. Hopefully Tech will correct the error Monday night.

— AUBURN_FAST (@AU_2_Fast) April 7, 2019

Virginia’s Ty Jerome said he double-dribbled as Bryce Brown raked a hand across his jersey (trying to foul, but it wasn’t called.)

“I knew they weren’t gonna call double-dribble after they let that one go. … It’s hard to be a ref. They miss a lot. So you’ve got to play on.”

— George Schroeder (@GeorgeSchroeder) April 7, 2019