The officiating in college basketball has been an issue throughout this men’s NCAA tournament, and that trend continued once again during Sunday’s second-round matchup between Illinois and Houston.
We saw officials basically penalize Illinois’ R.J. Melendez for protecting himself from a potentially horrific fall.
With just under nine minutes to go in the second half, Melendez broke free down court for a fast-break dunk to cut the deficit to four. Now, Melendez went quickly into his two-handed dunk and hung on the rim to let his momentum swing him back. It wasn’t an unsportsmanlike move, but the officials couldn’t help themselves.
They called Melendez for a technical foul for hanging on the rim.