Why did Kentucky lose 2 points at halftime vs Tennessee? Explaining the overturned goaltending call

An awful rule. That’s why.

The BBN is still celebrating a massive win over the Tennessee Volunteers on Tuesday night, as the Kentucky Wildcats added another top-15 win to their resume.

However, at halftime, I’m sure most of the fanbase was about to explode.

Why is that? Well it comes from the announcement that Kentucky had lost two points while they were in the locker room.

The Cats have become accustomed to the goaltending review rule over the years, as we saw it play out several times over the last few seasons, and it almost never goes in UK’s favor.

That happened again on Tuesday night with an overturned goaltending call that originally happened at the 1:38 mark remaining in the first half.

Referees can use instant replay to determine if a goaltending call is correct, but only when a call has been made on the floor. If the violation occurs in the final four minutes or at any point in overtime, it’s reviewed immediately.

Otherwise, it’s not usually reviewed until the next TV timeout, or in this case, at halftime.

If the goaltending call is reversed, two points are taken away from the team that benefited from the call, and the play is counted as a blocked shot.

In this case, Otega Oweh’s made field goal was changed to a miss, while Tennessee forward Felix Okpara was credited with a block.

We can argue all we want about the reviews in college basketball. Most of the time, they’re pointless, as coaches have now figured out you can squeeze an extra timeout in the game if you can sell the officials on getting a review.

In this case, though, the rule really stings as it was reviewed two minutes after the half ended. That’s the part of the college rules that still make zero sense.

But will we ever see a change? For now, it seems unlikely.

Thankfully, we can still celebrate this win, as those two points didn’t come back to change the outcome of the thrilling finish for the Cats.

It also didn’t cost Oweh his streak of reaching double figures in every game this season, as he scored five points in the final minute and a half of regulation to finish with 13 on 4/11 shooting (4/6 on free throws).

Let’s hope some rule changes on these reviews are coming sooner rather than later.

Go Cats!