Kentucky’s buzzer-beating three-pointer came with Santa Clara controversy

Kentucky set the college basketball world ablaze with Otega Oweh’s stunning buzzer-beater Friday.

But the final possession of regulation almost didn’t play out the way it did.

After Santa Clara’s Allen Graves made a 3-pointer with two seconds left, Oweh raced down the court in the final seconds of the second half.

But before he put up his shot, Santa Clara head coach Herb Sendek appeared to call for a timeout.

The referees didn’t see it, and the game proceeded with Oweh hitting an improbable game-tying trey.

Postgame, Sendek confirmed his intentions.

“I unequivocally called timeout, but they didn’t grant it,” Sendek said. “I think the video evidence is clear.

“[It’s] a likely response after Allen hits the 3 that the coach would be calling timeout to set the defense,  which I tried to do…Other than that, it wasn’t acknowledged or recognized.”

Oweh sank the deep 3 from the left side of the court, tying the game at 73 and sending the contest to overtime. It was all Wildcats in the extra period, as they outscored Santa Clara 16-11 and produced multiple key blocks down the stretch to claim an 89-84 win.

Postgame, Kentucky’s players struggled to sum up what they’d just witnessed.

“I felt like we wanted this more. We came out and played with a dog fight,” Kentucky junior forward Brandon Garrison said.

“We didn’t want the season to end yet, Oweh added. “The games are gonna give us a lot of ups and downs that we can’t really control, but we’ve just gotta respond, and we just found a way to respond.”

Now, Kentucky will face the winner of No. 2 seed Iowa State and No. 15 Tennessee State in the Round of 32. Santa Clara, meanwhile, finishes the season at 26-8 after making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996.

“It was a really euphoric high, followed by a tough one to swallow,” Sendek said postgame of the game’s ending.

Oweh finished the game with 35 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, helping drag Kentucky across the line when it truly mattered. Three other Wildcats players finished with double-digit point totals.

Still, none of it might have happened if the referees had granted Sendek his timeout.