Illinois picked up a huge Big Ten road win at Michigan State on Saturday, but a controversial technical foul on Illini guard Jaylon Tate with a little over 33 seconds left stalled the end of a close game and had Twitter buzzing.
Tate, a sophomore, appeared to box out Michigan State point guard Travis Trice after Trice, shooting a free throw, made the front-end of a one-and-one. No foul was whistled on the play, initially, but after referees reviewed the play on the courtside monitor, a deadball technical foul was assessed to Tate.
Here’s video of the play from Big Ten Network:
The technical foul gave Michigan State two additional free throws and the ball -- with Trice also finishing his one-and-one stint at the free-throw line -- but the Spartans were unable to capitalize as they ended up losing, 59-54. The technical foul on Tate fouled him out of the game and the Illini were able to sweat out a close win despite the controversial call.
After the game, referee crew chief Terry Wymer commented on the call.
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Pool report on late technical foul pic.twitter.com/ZH7eh0BMhT
— Kyle Austin (@kylebaustin) February 7, 2015
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Many on Twitter also took issue with the call with many viewers expressing that Tate probably could have been whistled for a regular foul, with a deadball technical foul seeming excessive. Some are of the belief there was no foul on the play at all and its just a basketball play.
What do you think? Did Tate deserve a technical foul? A normal foul? No foul at all?
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(H/T: Brent Yarina, BTN.com)