Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek claims he 'unequivocally' called timeout before Otega Oweh game-tying shot

The controversy from Santa Clara’s heartbreaking NCAA Tournament loss isn’t cooling off. Now, head coach Herb Sendek is making his stance crystal clear.

Following the Broncos’ 89-84 overtime loss to the Kentucky Wildcats, Sendek addressed the pivotal late-game sequence that helped swing momentum. After Santa Clara hit a go-ahead three-pointer in the closing seconds of regulation, Sendek immediately attempted to call a timeout, but officials never acknowledged it.

“I unequivocally called timeout, but they didn’t grant it,” Sendek stated. “I mean, I think the video evidence is clear, and anybody’s able to pull it up. It’s a likely response after Allen [Graves] hits the three, that the coach would be calling timeout to set the defense, which I tried to do, and I was successful in doing, other than it wasn’t acknowledged or recognized. So, that’s what happened.”

Moments later, Otega Oweh drilled a game-tying three-pointer that ultimately forced overtime. The sequence that continues to spark debate across the college basketball world.

From Santa Clara’s perspective, the situation is straightforward. Sendek believes he clearly signaled for a timeout in time to set his defense, a logical move after a late go-ahead basket. However, in the chaos of the moment, officials did not grant the request, whether due to line of sight or uncertainty over possession.

That last piece, the idea of possession, has become the central point of interpretation. As Bruce Pearl explained in his own analysis of the play, officials must determine not only whether a timeout was called, but whether the team requesting it had clear possession of the ball. 

In this case, Kentucky quickly moved the ball through the net and initiated the inbound, creating a razor-thin window for officials to process both elements: “The two officials need to see if Kentucky had the ball in their possession,” Pearl stated postgame. “Because Kentucky had the ball, I’m okay that Herb did not get the timeout.”

Still, that explanation offers little comfort for Santa Clara. Replay angles appear to show Sendek signaling before the ball was fully put back into play, fueling frustration that the moment, one that directly impacted the outcome, wasn’t properly recognized. In a one-and-done setting like March Madness, those margins can define seasons. And in this case, they did.

Oweh’s heroics, a career-high 35 points, including the clutch three, lifted Kentucky out of danger, as the Wildcats pulled away in overtime to survive and advance. Meanwhile, Santa Clara was left to process what might have been.

Sendek’s comments only add fuel to a debate that isn’t going away anytime soon. Because in March, it’s not just about the plays that do happen, but the ones that don’t get called.