Carlos Boozer, ACC Network broadcast calls out officials for controversial foul in Notre Dame win over Pittsburgh

A controversial foul call in the final seconds of an ACC Tournament game between Notre Dame and Pittsburgh decided the game. The Fighting Irish were awarded a shooting foul off a tip-in attempt, making one of two shots to secure a 55-54 win.

Immediately analyst Carlos Boozer weighed in with his thoughts on the ACC Network set after the game. He wasn’t thrilled.

“Nah, this was a terrific basketball game. Both these teams fighting it out, playing good defense (and) making the right play,” Boozer said. “In my opinion, as an ex-player, there was not enough contact on that play to justify a foul.”

The play in question occurred after Markus Burton attempted a shot with about one second remaining in the game. Off-balance, his shot came off the iron and gave Pittsburgh the chance to secure it.

Instead, Tae Davis rebounded it for Notre Dame, going back up with it. There didn’t appear to be much contact.

Yet officials whistled for a foul. Even the announcers calling the contest were initially confused, thinking maybe a goal-tending call had been made against Pittsburgh.

“No foul,” one announcer whispered as his colleagues noted a foul call couldn’t be reviewed and removed. “No you can’t (take it away), but there is no foul, I don’t think.”

Boozer further drove home that point. He gave credit where it was due before noting he didn’t agree with the call.

“Again, hats off to Notre Dame for making the free throw to win the game — Tae Davis,” Boozer said. “But this game should have been in overtime and we should have had more basketball. That was not enough contact to warrant a free throw right there. I feel horrible for Pittsburgh. They played a really ugly game, fought back in this game and made it a great competition. For the game to end that way on that kind of play, I just feel bad for those kids over there.”

Throughout the course of the game, Pittsburgh had battled back from a deficit that got as large as 10 points. Finally they had pulled level and looked to be in good shape heading into a potential overtime.

Then the disastrous foul call struck. As analyst Joel Berry III noted, though, that’s why not making mistakes early in games is so critical.

“You look at Pitt from their standpoint. Don’t want to put the game in the refs’ hands,” Berry said. “So you go back to the first half and we talk about how many missed opportunities they have early in the game and that bites you in the butt at the end of the game. And that’s what happened. And then for Notre Dame, just playing until the end of the whistle. Coaches harp about playing until the whistle sounds and that’s what they did. And they just got a call that was on their side and they were able to knock down the free throw.”

Added announcer Luke Hancock on the debacle for Pittsburgh:

“Hate the call. Pittsburgh didn’t play well enough to win the game throughout. You want it to end different than that but that’s the way it is. This is the madness of this tournament, this is the madness of this time of year. And so crazy things happen. You gotta take care of business for 40 minutes. That one hurts for Pittsburgh especially Zach Austin he played a really good game. Just missed box out there and then ref makes a call. That’s how the games go.”

You can view the full sequence below. As noted, Notre Dame won the contest 55-54 to advance in the ACC Tournament.

Absolutely brutal way to lose the @accmbb tournament opener for Pitt, on a weakkkk foul call just before the horn. Tough ending. Notre Dame moves on and gets 5th seed @UNC_Basketball Wednesday in Charlotte pic.twitter.com/pBHuZGlDLj

— Joey Ellis (@Jellis1016) March 11, 2025