When fans yell out "You can't do that," it's one thing. It is completely different when the referees tell a head coach the same thing. But that is exactly what happened today as Kentucky basketball clashed with Dennis Gates and Missouri.
Somewhere, Lane Kiffin is smirking because he, too, has felt the sting of officials refusing to allow his team to delay an offense.
With the Cats leading and momentum surging, Brandon Garrison helped block a shot attempt or so it looked. It is entirely possible the Missouri player just was losing it out of bounds, but it did look like his hand knocked it loose from the Tiger player. The players were all begging for a review.
Instead of a standard request, Gates appeared to take a page straight out of the Ole Miss playbook: Suddenly 2 players had their shoes become loose. They bent down to tie their shoes, effectively freezing the game clock and giving their review guy more time.
Caught in the act
Getting reviews is tough; you have a split second to get a signal from your video coordinator and make the call. I can't blame Gates for trying to buy his staff a clean look at the monitor, but the referees certainly did.
The officials not only noticed the intentional delay, they explicitly told Gates they would not honor his request for a review because of the shoe-tying stunt. It was a rare moment where a "hand in the cookie jar" move was called out in real-time on the SEC stage.
The Lane Kiffin connection
Lane Kiffin is arguably the "Godfather" of this tactic in the SEC. His Ole Miss teams became infamous for feigning injuries to slow down high-octane offenses. I wish I could say Mark Stoops didn't do the same thing, but there were times when cramps would just suddenly hit when a coach pointed out on the floor.
While college football eventually implemented a 5-yard penalty and a mandatory one-play sit-out for such antics, there really is no equivalent you can call in basketball.
It was refreshing to see the refs get one right by shutting down the gamesmanship, even if they balanced it out by missing a clear non-flagrant call later when Jasper Johnson was drilled in the neck.
Yesterday's ref would have called a flagrant one but today's ref surprisingly did not call a flagrant one on the Missouri player hitting Jasper Johnson in the neck. #BBN
— Chris Beasmore (@CBeasmoreSports) March 12, 2026
Halftime score
The Cats are showing the poise we called for this morning. They head into the locker room leading 38-29, having survived the early foul trouble of Jasper Johnson and the tactical "shoe-gate" from the Missouri bench. Mark Pope was happy with what he saw though. Speaking with Alyssa Lang:
"Our half-court defense has been really solid...It's been transition defense that has been the issue."
Can the Cats close it out?