Sean Miller's late coaching decision backfires on Texas after last-second tip-in by Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn
Miller defended the decision to pull big man Matas Vokietaitis from the game in the final seconds after a tip-in led to a loss for the Longhorns.
The second-guessing began within minutes of the final buzzer. Turner Sports analyst Charles Barkley accused Texas coach Sean Miller of making “a mistake” on Thursday night by removing foul-plagued 7-footer Matas Vokietaitis for the Longhorns’ final defensive possession of a 79-77 loss to Purdue . That decision backfired on Miller when Texas did not have its top big man on the floor to block out Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn after Braden Smith’s attempt at a tie-breaking layup rimmed out.
Kaufman-Renn outmuscled 6-foot-8 Dailyn Swain for position under the rim and tipped in the rebound with less than a second to go , sending the No. 2 Boilermakers to the Elite Eight and ending No. 11 Texas’ unexpected NCAA tournament run.
“You’ve got to have a big guy in there in that situation,” Barkley said. “I know he had four fouls. What are you saving him for?
… He’s their best rebounder. He’s their only big they really have out there. You can’t give up an offensive rebound in that situation.