Greg Gard questions Wisconsin technical foul call, lack of clarity

The officiating became a story in the NCAA Tournament’s second round. In a thriller between the BYU Cougars and Wisconsin Badgers, there were multiple technical fouls called, including one that Badgers head coach Greg Gard feels he didn’t get a great explanation for in the moment.

On the play, Steven Crowl lost the ball and the Wisconsin bench thought there was a foul on the play that wasn’t called. They jumped up reacting to that but immediately got hit with a technical foul.

“They had two technicals, right, and an ejection so I don’t know,” Greg Gard said after the game. “The official couldn’t tell me what was said. He didn’t know. I don’t think anything was said. Apparently, two assistants stood up. I didn’t know you got technicals for standing up and stomping your feet. If they stomped their feet, I don’t know what they did.”

The incident came with just under 16 minutes left in the second half. At the time, Wisconsin had scored five-straight points and cut the BYU lead to 52-48. That was down from what had once been a 13-point lead for the Cougars.

“I’ve said a lot of things this year and haven’t even come close to getting a technical,” Gard said. “And for some reason, we had one in that situation. It hasn’t happened all year. I don’t know why it would come out in that regard. But maybe he couldn’t remember what was said.”

The technical led to a four-point swing in BYU’s favor and let the Cougars rebuild an eight-point lead. This came in a game that ended in a 91-89 win for the Cougars too. So, it did arguably have its impact on the game’s final score. At the least, it did end the run for Wisconsin and force them to hit the reset button.

As Greg Gard pointed out, Wisconsin wasn’t the only team in the game with a technical. BYU also got hit with its own when Mawot Mag pointed to a video replay showing that officials missed a call made against him. Most felt it was such a bad technical that even Seth Davis posted, “I don’t understand why Mag got a tech from that and I am the ultimate sportsmanship nerd.”

Regardless of the officiating, the loss ended Wisconsin’s season. BYU, meanwhile, advances to the Sweet Sixteen. There, the Cougars will take on either Saint Mary’s or Alabama.