Another angle of the controversial foul call on UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards in the final seconds of the Huskies’ Final Four loss to Iowa changed some people’s opinions to believing the whistle was deserved.
Edwards was called for a moving screen on Hawkeyes guard Gabbie Marshall with just 3.9 seconds remaining as UConn trailed Iowa, 70-69, and the team was attempting to set up a final shot for star guard Paige Bueckers.
Some viewers initially thought this was an atrocious call and thus a grave injustice for a UConn team that scratched and clawed to not only get onto the stage with Caitlin Clark but also was on the precipice of a March Madness championship matchup with Dawn Staley’s South Carolina team.
Iowa won, 71-69, to reach its second straight title game.
However, a new angle of the video made the rounds on social media late Friday night and the tide started to turn.
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ESPN UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards was called for a moving screen on Hawkeyes guard Gabbie Marshall with just 3.9 seconds ESPN
CBS college basketball analyst Seth Davis quote-tweeted a video on X with an emphatic defense of the foul call.
“Not just textbook. Obvious. Clear. Not even a question,” Davis wrote.
“And I was among those who initially thought it was a bad call because I only saw the close/upper body reply. This is not even a debate. It. Was. A. Foul.”
UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards was called for a moving screen on Hawkeyes guard Gabbie Marshall with just 3.9 seconds. ESPNBarstool founder Dave Portnoy also posted a GIF of this angle, and wrote, “Anybody who is saying this isn’t a foul doesn’t know ball.”
Marshall agreed with that assessment, telling reporters postgame she “knew it was a moving screen.”
UConn coach Geno Auriemma did believe a could should have been called there.
“There’s probably an illegal screen call that you could make on every single possession,” Auriemma said after the game. “I just know that there were three or four of them called on us and I don’t think there were any called on them.”
Speaking with reporters after the game, Bueckers was not interested in using the call as an excuse.
“Everybody can make a big deal out of that one single play, but not one single play wins a basketball game, or loses a basketball game,” Bueckers said.
Caitlin Clark #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes celebrates as Nika Muhl #10 and Aaliyah Edwards #3 of the UConn Huskies react after a foul called against UConn in the second half. Getty Images“There was a lot of mistakes that I made that could have prevented it from even being that big or causing the game.
You can look at one play and say, ‘That killed us’ or ‘That hurt us’ but we should’ve done a better job — I should’ve done a better job — of making sure we didn’t leave the game up to chance like that, and leave the game up to one bad call going our way and then deciding it. So, yeah, maybe that was a tough call for us, but I feel like I could’ve done a better job of even preventing that from happening.”
