ACC announces error in end of Duke’s loss at Virginia

Kyle Filipowski should have shot two free throws before overtime in Duke’s loss to Virginia, the ACC announced late Saturday night.

Duke’s star freshman went up for a dunk in the closing second of regulation with the score tied at 58-58. He was met at the rim by Virginia’s Reece Beekman and Ryan Dunn, and a foul was called on Dunn.

According to the ACC, officials determined during a review of the play that the foul occurred after the clock reached 0.0.

That’s an “incorrect adjudication of the playing rules,” per the league’s release. The game went to overtime, in which Virginia won 69-62.

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Here’s the technical aspect of the play:

Per Rule 5, Section 7, Article 3c of the NCAA Rule Book, while a foul occurred after expiration of play, the ball was still in flight, thus the student-athlete should have been granted two free throw attempts.

Rule 5, Section 7, Article 3c states “when a foul occurs so near the expiration of time that the official timer cannot stop the game clock before time expires or when the foul occurs after time expires but while the ball is in flight during a try, the period shall end when the free throw(s) and all related activity have been completed.”

A.R. 130, Section 2 of the NCAA Casebook notes in a scenario where “Shooter A1 releases the ball, time expires, A1 is fouled while the ball in in flight and the try is unsuccessful, since the try was released before the expiration of time and since the foul occurred after time expired but while the ball was in flight and A1 was an airborne shooter, A1 shall attempt two free throws even if the first is successful. When both free throws are unsuccessful, the game continues with an extra period(s).”

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The ACC said it has addressed the situation with Duke and Virginia, and also with the officiating crew — which was Lee Cassell, Jeffrey Anderson and Tim Clougherty. It also said the league considers the matter closed and would have no further comment.

After the game, Duke coach Jon Scheyer was irked at the explanation — in retrospect, with good reason — that he got during the process.

“Well, they told me after the fact that the call was made after the buzzer. And you can see the ball left his hands before point-zero,” Scheyer said. “So I don’t know exactly what the rule is. I’d like to get some clarification, understand. But the call was made, so I don’t know how the call can be taken away. But again, I’m not – I just would like clarity.”

That came in the form of the ACC’s statement.

Scheyer also said of Filipowski, despite being scoreless in the game, “there’s no doubt he’s knocking down those free throws, in my mind.”

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Elsewhere in the ACC, Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner shed light on some foreshadowing from the office of commissioner Jim Phillips earlier in the week.

Phillips sent an email Monday to each men’s and women’s coach in the ACC directing them to back off criticism of the league’s officials.

Pastner said several times during his post-game press conference, after a one-point loss at Wake Forest, that “out of respect for the commissioner’s wishes,” he was not going to comment on officiating.