There are a lot of furious Purdue basketball fans right now and you know what, we don't blame them. Nope, not one bit. On Friday night, the Boilermakers suffered a heartbreaking, last-second loss to top-seeded Houston with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.
We hate blaming officials, but just what in the world was going on late in the action? The most controversial play came with the game on the line. As you'll be able to see below, Houston's Milos Uzan clearly pushed off on Purdue guard Braden Smith, sending him flying to the ground. Despite that, the whistle didn't go off? Give us a break:
Great play by UH to win the game but they shouldn't even have had the ball in my opinion. You dont want the refs to determine a game this good and this close but that's definitely a push off, offensive foul and should have been Purdues ball! pic.twitter.com/EVtGZ4v8Db
— Coach Renaldo Ellis (@renaldo_ellis) March 29, 2025
The refs missed a blatant late push-off in Purdue's heartbreaking loss to Houston
If you're furious seeing that clip in slow motion, you're not the only one. The arm is extended, Smith falls to the ground right after. This might be one of the easiest calls to make, yet the team in stripes didn't even blink.
We can play the what if game all day, but it's hard not to think about what might have happened had a foul been called, with Purdue rightfully given the ball with time to draw up one final play to try and win things in regulation. Worst-case scenario, overtime would have been on the way.
Instead, after a missed Houston shot and the ball going out of bounds, Kelvin Sampson drew up a genius play after a review and the Cougars are officially moving on to the next round to take on red-hot Tennessee. The winner of that game will move on to the Final Four.
This was such a great basketball game, but it's such a bummer that a lot of people are focusing on the disastrous performance from the officials. Fans never want to be talking about the refs after a close battle, but that non-call on the push-off is going to haunt a lot of people for quite some time.