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Media eviscerates referees for terrible technical foul in Illinois vs. Houston

Stephen Samraby:Steve Samra•03/20/22•

SamraSource

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Mark Alberti/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Illinois has been fighting to stay with Houston all game long. Then, the momentum started to change when Fighting Illini guard RJ Melendez capped off a fast-break with a rim-rattling dunk. The crowd was going nuts — until a whistle and a controversial technical dampened the celebration.

Melendez was forced to hang on the rim for an extra second due to his momentum for his own safety. Evidently, the referees didn’t see it that way.

“No! No, no. Absolutely not. I’m sorry! His momentum is taking him with him. He has to swing back,” exclaimed Reggie Miller on the broadcast. “You can not give this young man a technical foul for this. He’s not showing-up or anything. Because if he doesn’t, he is going to almost kill himself. You got to swing on the rim right here. Your momentum is bringing you back! Because if he doesn’t — if he lets go right now, he’s going to hit his head, and fall on his back.”

Afterwards, Miller and Illinois faithful weren’t the only ones miffed by the whistle. A litany of media members eviscerated the call on the floor.

“What an ABOMINATION!,” tweeted Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. “As BAD of a call as I’ve EVER seen.”

“Stop it,” tweeted Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated. “That is just a stupid technical.”

“Ref calls a T on Melendez for hanging on the rim after a dunk. It happened right in front of me. He pretty clearly swung forward as not to hurt himself,” tweeted Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated. “That call belongs in the trash.”

“what else was he supposed to do? fling himself three rows into the stands??” tweeted Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic.

“That is the most ridiculous technical foul I’ve ever seen in my life, that is just atrocious,” tweeted Rob Rauster of The Field of 68.

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports summed up what everyone was thinking, tweeting “HORRENDOUS T.”

Additionally, Heat Check CBB screen-grabbed a shot of an additional angle, showing Melendez had no choice but to hang on the rim.

Finally, Dan Wolken of USA Today Sports mentioned that the technical is simply a bad-look for college basketball.

“If you showed any random person that dunk and told them it was a technical foul, they would conclude that college basketball is a joke,” tweeted Wolken.

As you can see, the controversial is one that will be debated by Illinois faithful for quite some time, as it changed the momentum of the game.