Seton Hall crushes referees after controversial calls in loss to UConn

All of the late whistles and non-whistles went UConn’s way, and Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway was not happy about it.

The Pirates were in the fight in the closing minutes Saturday up in Storrs, but they ultimately fell short in a bid to upend the sixth-ranked Huskies in a 71-67 road loss at Gampel Pavilion.

Seton Hall led by as many as eight points after halftime and still was ahead by one with 53 seconds remaining, before Tajuan Simpkins was whistled for a foul on UConn guard Solo Ball, who knocked down two free throws to put the home team ahead.

Holloway was incensed afterward by a 21-2 disparity in free-throw attempts in Connecticut’s favor in the second half.

“I can’t believe that. I’m sick already. That’s making me more sick,” Holloway said in a postgame interview with radio announcers Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin. “How about that? Once again, you said it, I’m just answering the question. But that’s crazy.

“Let’s just make sure we understand how crazy this is, to take 21 free throws and we took only two. That’s crazy. That should never happen.”

Specifically, Pirates point guard Budd Clark appeared to get hit by Silas Demary while hoisting a potential game-tying 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining.

“We know they’re fouling, the referees know they’re fouling,” Holloway said. “Obviously you’ve got to be smart [about getting a shot off] and [Clark] felt like he got fouled. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.”

The Pirates (19-10, 9-9) haven’t won in Storrs since the 2020-21 pandemic season with empty arenas, and they are now 0-14 on campus there with fans in attendance since 1997, according to nj.com.

“Today was a great chance for us to prove it, and I thought we did that for 38 minutes, but man, unbelievable opportunity we let slip by,” Holloway said. “I want to give my guys credit. I wasn’t really around the whole week because I was dealing with the flu.

“Guys came out and competed in a hostile environment like this.”

UConn improved to 27-3 overall, and a league-best 17-2 in the Big East.