Greg McDermott 'not going to go there' on controversial foul in San Diego State loss

Unless you’re an Aztec, the ending of San Diego State’s win over Creighton in the Elite Eight may have bummed you out. Considering a foul call ended the matchup in Louisville by one point from the free-throw line, some may find that less than satisfactory considering the stakes in the game and how well it was played by both teams.

Even so, Greg McDermott isn’t interested in talking about it any further per Pete Thamel at ESPN. The Bluejay’s head coach was obviously frustrated since it ended his team’s season but he also said a lot more went into the loss than just that single free throw.

Greg McDermott on the call on Nembhard: "Two teams played their tails off and officiating is part of the game. We’re not going to go there. We lost the game because we didn’t do enough and San Diego State did." He added he wasn't given an explanation at the end of the game.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 26, 2023

Creighton led for the majority of this game, specifically in the first half. That’s when they had their largest lead of eight points. That changed coming out of halftime, though, especially after the under-eight timeout. From then on, San Diego State scored 16 of their 29 second-half points. That included the free throw from Darrion Trammell that gave the Aztecs the lead with but a moment left.

In the end, Creighton did a lot of things right to put themselves in reach of a Final Four berth. Still, they did enough wrong to let SDSU hang around and eventually take the win. Amongst those details was their 2-17 mark from distance (11.8%) as well as their 10 turnovers in the game.

Those issues are why McDermott isn’t going to put much weight on the final foul for being what cost his team their chance at going to Houston. It might have been the final nail in their coffin but McDermott knows plenty of other things put them in a position to be eliminated beforehand.

NCAA releases statement on controversial end to San Diego State-Creighton game

This year’s NCAA Tournament has been one of the wildest and most unpredictable in college basketball history. However, some things never change. With so many close games, the likelihood of a controversial finish becomes even likelier.

We saw controversy on Sunday evening during the finish of the San Diego State-Creighton matchup. Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard was called for a foul with 1.4 seconds left. That was the first part of controversy. Then, the second part came when Creighton threw a full court pass in the final seconds, but the ball was tipped near the opposite baseline, before landing out of bounds. Following a review, officials ruled the clock hit zero before the ball touched out of bounds. The NCAA released a statement to try and clear up the officials’ decision-making process on the controversy.

Statement from the NCAA on the final review from Creighton-San Diego State. pic.twitter.com/qm622Lu1iz

— Joel Lorenzi (@jxlorenzi) March 26, 2023