Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin wasn't happy with the officiating, especially the charge call that changed the game by sending the Rebels' best player, Cotie McMahon, to the bench with five fouls with 4:22 left and Ole Miss leading 59-54.
Asked about McMahon's game-long foul trouble that started with her playing only three minutes in the first quarter and limited her to 21 minutes overall, the coach said: "I got to see how to answer that without getting in any trouble. I was in the locker room thinking about other star players on teams. I've just never seen them foul out in a March Madness game. I just haven't. Paige [Bueckers], Caitlin [Clark]. I mean, I don't want to call current ones [stars] because then someone will say I'm tampering or something like that.
"I just haven't seen the best players get fouled out. From my point of view, the last call was incorrect. We watched it 1,500 times. One of the things I do understand is that officials are human and environments [cause] them to officiate in a particular type of way. I don't think that's why we lost the game. I just know that Cotie is [our] leading scorer, [SEC] newcomer of the year, all of the things, and she plays 20 minutes.
"And it's disappointing. These fans deserved more than that. The game deserves more than that, and I just think officiating as a whole really needs to be looked at. I really do. I'm not just talking about this game. Something has to be done. It has to be better."