Even LeBron James disagreed with a controversial no-call that helped UConn advance to its 13th-straight Final Four
- LeBron James wanted a foul call in the final seconds of Baylor and UConn's Elite Eight matchup.
- The NBA superstar took to Twitter to complain about the no-call, writing "That was a FOUL!!"
- Head coach Geno Auriemma replied in jest that he doubts "LeBron has ever won a game on a bad call."
LeBron James wanted a foul call in the final moments of UConn's heated, down-to-the-wire Elite Eight matchup against Baylor.
And he wasn't the only one complaining.
With just five seconds remaining and her team down by one, Baylor's DiJonai Carrington drove towards the basket and rose for a highly-contested jumper from the block. Huskies forwards Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Aaliyah Edwards challenged the shot.
Plenty of spectators thought they saw the pair of UConn six-footers make illegal contact with Carrington on the play
As Ryan Ruocco, who was on the call for ESPN, said on the broadcast, the officials could not "review whether or not that was foul." But that didn't deter James and others - including Baylor players and staff - from calling for a different outcome.
"Cmon man!!!" James tweeted in real-time. "That was a FOUL!!"
After the game, Carrington dismissed the idea that there was anything "controversial" about the call. She was fouled, plain and simple, she said.
"I personally don't see it as a controversial call," Carrington said. "I already saw it on the replay. One girl fouled me on my face, and one girl fouled me on the arm."
Lady Bears head coach Kim Mulkey was even more livid over the no-call. During her rather bizarre post-game media availability, she explained that she's "got still shots and video from two angles" that suggest there should have been a foul on the play.
Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma was dismissive of James' and others' complaints
UConn's notoriously gruff head coach was not interested in entertaining dialog about whether a foul should have been called on the game's penultimate play.
"You wanna go back and check every single call throughout the entire game and then add them all up?" Auriemma told the media after his contest. "You don't! That's the nature of sports. We probably fouled a number of times during the game, and we didn't get called for it. They probably fouled a number of times during the game and didn't get called for it."
"The bottom line is that the officials did what they're gonna do," he added. "And if they would've said it was a foul, I'd be on the other end going, 'You can't make that call a foul.' It is what it is. I'm not going to sit here and apologize for it."
Auriemma did, however, take the time to respond directly to James' Twitter complaint. The 11-time NCAA champion smiled as he sarcastically quipped, "I probably doubt that in his career that he's ever won a game and decided to give it back because he looked at it and went 'that was a foul.'"
Regardless of Monday night's foul drama, Auriemma and his top-seeded UConn squad are headed to the program's 13th consecutive Final Four. They'll face Aari McDonald and the No. 3 Arizona Wildcats on Friday for a chance to return to the NCAA championship game for the first time since the Huskies won it all back in 2016.