Aggies Coach Buzz Williams’ Timeout An SEC Mistake – Rick Barnes
Per Tennessee Volunteers coach Rick Barnes, the SEC admitted a mistake when dealing with Aggies coach Buzz Williams’ timeout called on the floor.
Texas A&M Aggies men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams called an unusual timeout during his team’s win over then-No. 6 Tennessee on Saturday. After A&M went up by 15 points with six minutes left in the contest, Williams wanted a timeout.
The officials didn’t see him from the coach’s box, so he ran onto the court to get their attention and made it almost to half-court before they saw him.
The ESPN broadcast immediately called Williams out and criticized the officials for not issuing a technical foul on the Aggies coach. Instead, A&M only received a bench warning.
Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes agreed with the broadcast, and on Tuesday reported that the SEC did too,
“I can assure you it’s been addressed, long before I even talked about it,” Barnes said, according to Volquest. “I have so much respect for our conference and Mike Eades, who’s in charge of officiating. I can assure you he took care of it, probably before we walked off the court.”
“They reached out first,” Barnes said. “And like I said, I appreciate, again, before I even got to the plane I’d gotten a text saying that it was not handled the right way.”
The Aggies got the 85-69 win, but the officials got the call wrong. Up by 15, it’s impossible to know if the game would’ve gone differently if the call had been made properly.
