The Santa Clara Broncos suffered a tough 89-84 overtime loss to the Kentucky Wildcats in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It appeared the Broncos were going to win the contest in regulation, but the Wildcats hit a game-tying buzzer beater to force overtime. However, that play may have never come to fruition had the referees seen the Santa Clara head coach calling a timeout after going up three in the final seconds of the second half.
In an image taken almost immediately after the Broncos hit the three-pointer with just over two seconds left in the game, you can see Herb Sendek, the program's head coach, calling timeout in the background, according to Chris Vannini of The Athletic. Referees were not looking at him, so the timeout was never officially called.
“Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek was calling timeout after the 3, but the ref wasn't looking. Kentucky then tied the game.”
Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek was calling timeout after the 3, but the ref wasn't looking. Kentucky then tied the game. pic.twitter.com/5e1cE2MDTz
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) March 20, 2026
Below is a video of the missed timeout call.
Santa Clara head coach Herb Sendek was trying to call a timeout before Kentucky nailed a three at the buzzer. #NCAATournament #MarchMadness https://t.co/JuUQfHyYms pic.twitter.com/lGbQvrfOsJ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 20, 2026
Just a brutal outcome for Santa Clara. The missed timeout call by the officials had sports fans jump on social media to defend the Broncos. Many criticized the poor officiating in the game against Kentucky overall, while others simply felt bad for Sendek's team.
“Yup, huge miss by the officiating crew,” said one individual.
This user stated, “Incredible how they'll spend several minutes Zapruder Filming whether a player's shoelace aglet is out of bounds, but also ‘oops I wasn’t paying attention' is also totally fine to them.”
“He was trying to get a TO from a ref running away from him. Had he gone toward the ref running toward him from the baseline (turned to his right instead of running to his left), he may have gotten the call?” explained one fan.
Another person said, “Pretty egregious considering the timeout they awarded Kentucky seconds earlier.”
“So how is this not a thing that can be overturned? We clearly see on camera him calling a timeout like wtf,” stated another individual.
Kentucky advances despite some controversial decisions from the referees. While Santa Clara exits the NCAA Tournament early, the Wildcats will prepare for their next game on Sunday when they take on the winner of Iowa State and Tennessee State.
