SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Nicolas Timberlake of Kansas swears he got fouled. If he did, Samford’s A.J. Staton-McCray insisted, then “I guess Casper hit him.”
The fourth-seeded Jayhawks took advantage of what looked like a phantom foul in the waning seconds Thursday night that set up two key free throws by Timberlake for a 93-89 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The 13th-seeded Bulldogs used their frenetic press and deep bench to trim a 22-point deficit to one with less than a minute left. They were trapping KU in the backcourt when Timberlake took a long pass in stride as he was streaking toward the basket.
As he went up to dunk, Staton-McCray came from behind and blocked the shot, appearing to touch nothing but ball.
The whistle blew and Timberlake calmly made both free throws with 14.7 seconds left to help Bill Self’s team push the lead to three and set up a second-round meeting against Gonzaga.
“I was definitely fouled on the breakaway,” Timberlake said.
Well, maybe not, according to Staton-McCray.
“I feel like it was a great play by me,” he said “Terrible call.”
The debate will play out for about a day back in Lawrence, where bigger things await, but will linger longer in Birmingham, where tiny Samford, champion of the Southern Conference, was denied the first tournament victory in program history.
“I thought A.J. made an incredible play, you know what I’m saying?” Samford coach Bucky McMillan said. “I’m not faulting the call. You can see it different ways. But I was really proud of our guys’ ability to go make a play.”
The call certainly didn’t detract from the game Hunter Dickinson had for Kansas.
Playing with a sleeve on to protect his recently dislocated right shoulder, the KU center finished with 19 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks. KJ Adams Jr., led the Jayhawks with 20 points, while Timberlake finished with 19 after his two game-deciding free throws.
Self’s team came into the tournament slumping — a popular pick to go down early without leading scorer Kevin McCullar Jr. (knee) and having lost four of its last five.
The Jayhawks play on. But the Kansas coach wouldn’t play into the good call-bad call debate.
“I thought Nic attacked the basket well,” Self said. “He’s a much better athlete than what a lot of people think. He attacked it strong, just like he should.”
That he had legs left to do that was a feat, given the way Samford played fullcourt basketball for 40 minutes, slowly wearing down a KU rotation that had essentially been reduced to six players.
