The Big Ten Conference acknowledged the mistakes of officials Larry Skirrot, Kip Kissinger and Roger Ayers in Rutgers basketball’s 67-66 loss at No. 25 Ohio State on Thursday.
“I talked to the Big Ten offices and they acknowledged that mistakes were made,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiel said by phone late Friday afternoon. “Now we’re going to move forward to Seton Hall.”
With the Scarlet Knights up by two points with less than five seconds remaining, Rutgers guard Caleb McConnell forced Ohio State quarterback Bruce Thornton to the sideline before backup guard Tanner Holden made a desperation pass and hit a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Photos later showed that Thornton had gone to the out-of-bounds line when McConnell forced him to jam, and replays showed Holden standing out of bounds and failing to regain his footing on the court before receiving Thornton’s pass.
In his postgame press conference, Pikiell said he was sure he saw Thornton go to the sideline — he was grinding there at the time — but said he didn’t see the replay and didn’t even get an explanation for the call being overturned even though he tried. show officials. In a press release, he called the endgame twist “disappointing” and “a tough way to lose.”
The loss dropped Rutgers to 6-3 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten heading into Sunday’s rivalry game against Seton Hall at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and college basketball since 2003. He is a top 25 pick by the Associated Press. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
