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NC State basketball player flips off ref after chaotic night of officiating
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DJ Horne and NC State won a tough game over Wake Forest on Tuesday evening, but the win came with some significant frustrations about the officiating crew.
This game included a total of 50 foul calls — 26 on Wake Forest, 24 on NC State — over the span of 40 minutes. A total of 61 free throws were shot between the 2 teams.
With just a couple seconds remaining and the game well in-hand, Horne expressed his frustrations by flipping off an official who had his back turned to him. Here’s video of the gesture:
DJ Horne with his performance review of Jeff Anderson pic.twitter.com/QIEjk8aZea
— Mark Armstrong (@MarkPArmstrong) January 17, 2024
In general, this officiating crew struggled to keep both teams in-check all night long. There were multiple incidents where players or coaches were ejected from the contest.
NC State coach Kevin Keatts was ejected earlier in the game for going ballistic on an official and interrupting a Wake Forest fast break. Keatts was upset about an apparent non-call during the Wolfpack’s previous possession.
Here’s video of that incident:
Kevin Keatts just got ejected for this pic.twitter.com/fI7KFF4Z1H
— Pregame Empire (@PregameEmpire) January 17, 2024
Officials also called a foul on NC State on this rebound — where 2 Wake Forest players collided with each other:
Sir, I regret to inform you that you were fouled by your own teammate, not Ben Middlebrooks pic.twitter.com/gB59JSfT4L
— Mark Armstrong (@MarkPArmstrong) January 17, 2024
In the final minute of the game, there was an altercation between the two teams that resulted in multiple ejections. Wake’s Hunter Sallis and NC State’s Mohamed Diarra were both ejected while Ben Middlebrooks was assessed a technical foul, which gave him five for the game.
Here’s a replay of this incident:
Recap…
Ben Middlebrooks (not in video) given a technical.
Hunter Sallis given a technical here for the initial interaction
Hunter Sallis and Mohamed Diarra ejected for “head butting” in the 2nd interaction@TheWolfpacker @essexthayer7pic.twitter.com/1Ne8AoCtBq
— Jamie Shaw (@JamieShaw5) January 17, 2024
It will be interesting to see what the league office thinks about the events in Raleigh this evening — both the officiating crew’s performance and Horne’s parting gesture.
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Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
