CLEVELAND — With under 10 seconds left on the clock, UConn had the ball with a chance to send Iowa home in heartbreaking fashion.
Back in her home state with family and friends in attendance, Iowa’s Gabbie Marshall drew a moving screen foul on UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards to help seal the Hawkeyes’ 71-69 win. Pumping her fists and yelling at the Hawkeye-heavy crowd in excitement, Marshall knew her five-year tenure at Iowa wasn’t yet over.
Since Iowa women’s basketball’s comeback against UConn on Friday night, talk on social media hasn’t been as much about the resiliency of the Hawkeyes, but instead, the offensive foul call that arguably defined the game.
A screen is a blocking move by an offensive player where they stand beside or behind a defender to free up a teammate. The move becomes illegal when a player executing a screen moves to block the defender and makes contact.
Marshall, who was on Paige Bueckers’ hip the entire game, said after the win she knew it was a moving screen and is happy it got called.
Bueckers said she didn’t see the play because she was coming off of the said screen, but she still didn’t make excuses. Marshall held Bueckers to a tournament-low 17 points.
“Everybody can make a big deal about that one single play, but not one single play wins a basketball game,” Bueckers said. “I feel like there were a lot of mistakes that I made that could’ve prevented that play from being that big or causing the game.”
The play in real time:
Did the refs make the right call here? pic.twitter.com/OtC83210SD
— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) April 6, 2024
The play slowed down:
I had to replay it in slow motion on that moving screen to see at this angle… pic.twitter.com/38tNnEPx9q
— Arby’s Stan Account (@shu_b0x) April 6, 2024
“When you slow it down, it’s really not that difficult to see. Feet not planted and elbow extended out. Great call by the refs,” a user on X, formerly known as Twitter, wrote about the illegal moving screen call.
“One of the worst offensive foul calls I’ve ever seen … Let alone with four seconds left and the game on the line,” another user wrote.
“To call that on a game deciding play is so wrong WOW,” tweeted Kelsey Plum, the 2017 national player of the year and now a star guard in the WNBA.
Head coach Lisa Bluder said she didn’t see the offensive call at the end either because she was “kind of blocked.” There were times, especially early in the contest, when it looked like Bluder wanted a few more calls going Iowa’s way. One instance was when Kate Martin was defending in the post and got hit in the nose. She was bleeding and went to the locker room momentarily, but Martin returned and made critical plays down the stretch.
Bluder mentioned how in last year’s national title game against LSU, the refs blew their whistles frequently, and star players Clark and Angel Reese had to spend more time than usual on the bench in foul trouble. The referees called 10 total personal fouls in the first half and 17 in the final two quarters on Friday night.
“At this point, there’s just not going to be many calls, especially after last year,” Bluder said. “You know, Caitlin and Angel on the bench — I think we’re just not gonna see a lot of calls happening right now.”