Jalen Leach groin kick ejection: Big Ten officiating head explains controversial Flagrant 2 ruling in Michigan vs Northwestern

Jalen Leach was ejected in the midst of argubly one of his best games this season when Big Ten officials called a Flagrant 2 foul on the Northwestern senior guard after he appeared to make contact with Michigan center Vladislav Goldin‘s nether region in the second half of Saturday’s 80-76 overtime loss to the host Wolverines.

Leach was leading all scorers with 19 points when he was ejected with 9:23 left in the second half after colliding with Goldin on a set screen, at which point Leach appeared to extend his right leg between Goldin’s making contact with his groin. Goldin momentarily doubled over in pain and officials began a review of the contact.

Big Ten head of officials Terry Wymer explained the ruling with the Big Ten Network’s Andy Katz as a cut-and-dry decision, regardless of whether or not there was any intent from Leach’s part.

“By rule, if a player gets hit in the private area it’s an automatic F2 and ejection for the opponent who hit the player,” Wymer told Katz. “You can’t officiate intent.”

Big Ten head of officials Terry Wymer on the flagrant 2 ejection that was assessed to @NUMensBball Jalen Leach (19 points at the time) for running into @umichbball Vlad Goldin, in which his leg lifted up into Goldin's groin area: "By rule, if a player gets hit in the private area…

— Andy Katz (@TheAndyKatz) January 19, 2025

The 7-foot-1, 250-pound Goldin went on to finish with 31 points — his second 30-point game this season — on 9-of-16 shooting to go along with 8 rebounds in the game.

It was the No. 20 Wolverines’ ninth-straight home victory as Michigan improved to 13-4 overall and 5-1 in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, Northwestern lost for the fourth time in its last five games to drop to 11-7 overall and 2-5 in Big Ten play.

Dusty May adamant Michigan ‘can’t believe the hype’

Dusty May’s first season with the Michigan Wolverines is off to an awesome start, as the team has amassed a 13-3 record, winning their past five games.

That’s caused the hype behind the program to ascend, as May’s team climbs the rankings after being an afterthought to begin the season. Still, as the media changes their tune about Michigan, May is trying to keep the focus on the games at hand, as he was adamant that the Wolverines can’t get high on their own supply.

“I’ve only been a head coach for, I think this is seven years now, so it’s not as if I have all the answers, but there’s a human nature component to it,” May said, regarding keeping Michigan’s focus on their overarching goals. “We’ve stressed maturity, and focusing in on the way we play the game, and not being — not just looking at the results and expecting to win, or whatever the case. So, we’ve been — really now, that we’re going to get more attention and more love, it’s good. It’s good for the sport, it’s good for this university, it’s good for our team, and their individual careers and what not. But we can’t believe the hype. We’ve got to get away from the processing of, ‘Okay, we’ve won by this much and that’s good.’ We took a step back in some areas yesterday. Our defensive intensity wasn’t as strong as it was against USC or UCLA in some of the same areas.

“We’ve just got to make sure that we continue to worry about us, focus on us. There’s preparation and game-planning for opponents, but our mindset and our ability to focus on getting better at what we need to work on is much more important. If we’re getting tired of practicing now in January, then we’re not going to max out as a group.”

Steve Samra contributed to this report.