The highly controversial offensive foul against Aaliyah Edwards during UConn’s 71-69 March Madness loss to Iowa in the Final Four on Friday night drew scorn from all corners of the basketball community.
But unsurprisingly, it came the hardest from people connected to the Huskies.
“There’s probably an illegal screen call you could make on every possession,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said after the game. “I just know that there were three or four of them who called us and I don’t think they were called. So I guess we just need to do a better job of not putting up illegal screens.
UConn forced Iowa into back-to-back turnovers and had the ball, trailing 70-69, with 10 seconds left after calling a timeout.
But Edwards was then called out for an illegal screen she put on Iowa’s Gabbie Marshall, which immediately drew exasperated criticism.
UConn was then forced to foul Caitlin Clark, who made 1 of 2 free throws before Iowa held on for a win to advance to the championship game of the NCAA tournament.
“It’s a terrible decision,” said UConn legend and Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi, who won three straight national championships with the Huskies. said during the post-match show. “We always talk about letting the players decide the game, especially a harmless decision like that where you really didn’t affect the player. They still went over the screen, it’s just hard to finish the game like that. … You want the players to decide it, and we didn’t have that tonight, which was disappointing.
Taurasi was watching the game with fellow UConn legends Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart on one of ESPN’s alternate broadcasts when the call was made.
“Wow, what an unfortunate time to call an offensive foul,” Taurasi said on the show. “Just know how to ruin the game. Oh my God, it’s terrible.”
Stewart and Bird shared his sentiment.
“I want to at least see a chance,” said Bird, who won two national championships with UConn. “It’s hard.”
Stewart, who won four straight national championships with the program, could barely get a word out.
She just shook her head with raised eyebrows, asking “was she moving?”
Edwards said after the match that “from my point of view, it was pretty clean.”
Iowa will now face undefeated South Carolina in the national championship game.
New York Post
