Santa Clara coach calls out refs for not granting timeout before Otega Oweh shot
By David Wasson
Published:
Although pundits like analyst Charles Barkley called out Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek for not calling a timeout in the closing seconds of regulation against Kentucky on Friday, the veteran coach says he indeed did signal for a stoppage – one that wasn’t granted by the Midwest Region first-round game officials.
“I unequivocally called timeout but they didn’t grant it,” Sendek said after Kentucky’s 89-84 overtime victory. “I mean, I think the video evidence is clear.”
Sendek’s attempted timeout call (which was not seen by the officiating crew of Tony Padilla, Todd Austin and Steve McJunkins) came after the Broncos’ Allen Graves buried a wing 3 with 2.4 seconds to play that put Santa Clara ahead 73-70.
Without the timeout, Sendek’s team played straight defense against the Wildcats – only to see Kentucky’s Otega Oweh bank home a 40-foot 3 at the buzzer to force OT.
“And anybody’s able to pull it up,” Sendek continued. “Which is a likely response after Allen hits the 3 that the coach would be calling timeout to set the defense, which I tried to do and was successful in doing other than that it wasn’t acknowledged or recognized.”
Here’s a clip that shows Sendek attempting to call timeout:
Seventh-seeded Kentucky survived the scare against 10th-seeded Santa Clara and will get the Iowa State-Tennessee State winner in Sunday’s second round.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
