Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois has apologized for the derogatory chant fans aimed at BYU following the Cougars’ 96-95 upset victory over the No. 19 Wildcats on Saturday night in Tucson.
Videos posted to social media show a smattering of Arizona fans chanting “F*** the Mormons” after a chaotic finish featuring two controversial calls and escalating tensions in the postgame handshake line.
“Following tonight’s men’s basketball game, it was brought to our attention that an unacceptable chant occurred,” Reed-Francois said in a statement. “On behalf of the University of Arizona Athletic Department, we apologize to BYU, their student-athletes, coaches and fans. The chant is not reflective of who we are and should not have happened.”
Emotions flared late in the final seconds of the matchup of projected NCAA tournament teams. Down by a point, Arizona guard Caleb Love appeared to score and draw a foul with 12.5 seconds to go, but the referees ruled he wasn’t in the act of shooting when the foul occurred.
After Love sank a pair of free throws to give his team a short-lived one-point lead, BYU guard Richie Saunders attacked the rim off the bounce, picked up his dribble in the paint and drew a phantom foul on Arizona forward Trey Townsend. Saunders then sank the game-tying and winning free throws with 3.2 seconds to go as boos and catcalls rained down from irate Arizona fans at the McKale Center.
Players from both teams had to be separated during the postgame handshake line.
The ESPN broadcast crew was quick to label the foul on Townsend a “bad call.” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd also criticized the call while acknowledging that his team’s poor defense was the main reason for the loss.
“It’s a bad call. I mean, like, whatever. What am I going to say?” Lloyd told reporters after the game. “You hate for a game to be decided by that. I mean, Trey, I feel horrible for him. The guy didn’t play in the second half. I tightened the rotation. He played good defense. [Saunders] is pivoting, pivoting, pivoting. Throws his shoulder at him. Throws up a shot and falls down. It’s a foul with two seconds to go.
“The guy who called it is one of the best refs, so we’ve got to live with it. But, step back, they scored 93 points up to that point on our home court. That’s the problem. That’s the problem. Me and our staff and our players, that’s the problem, not the officials.”
The narrow loss dropped Arizona (18-9, 12-4) into a tie for second place in the Big 12, three full games behind first-place Houston. Surging BYU (19-8, 10-6) has now won four straight, including last Tuesday night’s 91-57 shellacking of Kansas in Provo.
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