NEWARK — Even Rick Pitino knows West Virginia was robbed.
“Syracuse would’ve been a goal-tend away from having a tie for second place [in the Big East] today,” Pitino said after Louisville beat Seton Hall, 60-51, at the Prudential Center.
Pitino was referring to the missed call in Syracuse’s 63-61 win over West Virginia in which Baye Keita’s obvious goal-tend of a shot by Deniz Kilicli with 10.6 seconds remaining was missed by the officiating crew of Karl Hess, Gene Steratore and Brian O’Connell.
Kilicli’s shot would’ve tied the game, not won it, and Syracuse would’ve gotten the ball back with a chance to win.
Still, the call changed the course of the game.
“I mean, there’s not any doubt,” Mounties coach Bob Huggins said of the goal-tend. “Did I think it was? No, I know it was. I saw the replay.”
Had West Virginia won the game, Syracuse would’ve been 8-2 in the league instead of 9-1 and would still have a slight lead on Marquette, which improved to 7-2 with its come-from-behind 82-78 win at Villanova.
