Arizona Basketball: 6 Most Interesting Coach Sean Miller Moments

No.5 March 15th, 2013 – “He touched the ball”

He touched the ball! On March 15, 2013 the “he touched ball” incident was heard around the country. The play occurred during the Pac 12 tournament semifinal matchup against the UCLA Bruins.  At around 4:47 to late in the second half, Wildcat guard Mark Lyons was driving the ball down the lane when Bruin defender Jordan Adams got his hand on the ball.

Then it happened. Lyons was called for a double dribble and Miller disagreed, repeatedly saying to the referee, “He touched the ball, he touched the ball, he touched the ball,” (referring to Bruins defender Adams making contact with the ball, enough to allow Lyons to continue to dribble the ball again without being called for double dribble). That was enough to get Miller a technical foul – are you kidding me?!

Not only that, supposedly his reaction in the hallway on the way to the locker room was in question, so the Pac-12 fined Miller twenty-five thousand dollars. The head Pac-12 ref was later forced to resign due to his encouraging refs to T-up Miller in exchange for a trip or something like that. Seems Miller was right to be angry.

The Bruins would go on to score both technical free throws and ended up winning the game by two points – how ironic. Can’t blame Coach Miller at all for not only defending his player in this situation but also defending an obvious rule that was missed by the referees.