The Wildcats led by as many as 15 points before halftime and were up 69-63 with 1:57 remaining before LSU rallied to within 71-70 on Johnny O'Bryant III's follow with 3.9 seconds left. Kyle Wiltjer was fouled on the inbounds pass just as Noel appeared to be on the court before being pulled back by Wildcats assistant John Robic.
Rule 7, Section 6, Article 1 of the NCAA rule book states that “the throw-in team shall have team control when the ball is at the disposal of a player entitles to the throw-in.” The officiating crew ruled that when the ball was handed to the player for the throw-in, five players were on the court for each team.
The officials left the arena without making a statement about the play in question. I will personally address this situation and will make sure that this will not happen again.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.