Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry charged at an official Friday night just after the final horn sounded in the Fighting Irish’s 72-71 road loss to Cal. Shrewsberry screamed and pointed at the official in rebuke of a controversial last-second call that swung the game, and both players and staffers had to restrain him.
The sequence came after Notre Dame, leading by four points with under 11 seconds remaining, surrendered four unanswered points in the closing seconds in a stunning loss. He appeared to be irate after Notre Dame tried and failed to foul while leading by 3, only for Adam Flore and the officiating crew to call a foul — then reverse the foul call — then call it again when Cal was in the action of a 3-point shot. It led to a four-point play after they deemed Cal guard Dai Dai Ames’ 3-point shot with 5.5 seconds remaining was good.
Ames made the go-ahead free throw that ultimately swung the game.
A closer look at the foul call appears to show Ames making the shot without a Notre Dame defender making any contact, suggesting the foul indeed came before the shot. But the crew came together and, after reversing the initial call, decided the foul call stood and the 3-point shot was good.
The ACC issued a public reprimand to Shrewsberry, who apologized for his reaction to the call in a statement issued Saturday.
“I want to apologize for what took place immediately after the Cal game last night,” Shrewsberry said. “My actions were inappropriate and not symbolic of the leader I strive to be and what Notre Dame expects of its coaches and educators. I will learn from this lack of judgement and be better in the future. I want to apologize to our team, our University and its leaders, to Coach Madsen and his team, and to the ACC, as my actions were unacceptable.”
The ACC said Shrewsberry violated its sportsmanship policy.
“Shrewsberry aggressively confronted a member of the officiating crew following the game,” the conference said. “The unsportsmanlike behavior that was displayed is unacceptable and tarnishes the on-court play between these institutions. The ACC considers this matter closed and will have no further comment.”
Here’s an angle of Shrewsberry’s reaction to the call as he charged Flore and nearly broke through a cadre of staffers and players. You can see Flore turn around in apparent confusion about the uproar taking place behind him.
And here’s a separate angle of the mayhem. Shrewsberry got within feet of Flore but was ultimately restrained. He was not assessed a technical or ejected because the incident took place after the game, but he could face disciplinary action from the ACC.
Shrewsberry did not speak with the media after the game. However, Cal coach Mark Madsen spoke with reporters and said from his view, he believed the officials after a conference ultimately made the right call on the game-deciding sequence.
“I thought there was a foul going up,” Madsen said. “They conversed a couple times and they allowed it. There’s so much emotion in that gym — for the officials, for me, for the other team — but I was grateful Dai Dai rose up and made the shot, and I was grateful Dai Dai had the maturity and the huge presence of mind and the composure to knock down the free throw.”
Notre Dame led by as many as 12 points over the Bears on Friday and had a four-point lead with just over 11 seconds remaining before Cal stormed to the finish in stunning fashion. Cal finished with three makes on its final three field goal attempts, and Notre Dame missed its final four shots from the field.
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