“Crying and throwing her hands up” – Damian Lillard and fans call out ‘biased’ referees as Caitlin Clark’s team beat West Virginia in controversial game

The Iowa Hawkeyes advance to Sweet 16 after defeating West Virginia.

“Crying and throwing her hands up” – Damian Lillard and fans call out ‘biased’ referees as Caitlin Clark’s team beat West Virginia in controversial game

Damian Lillard calls out referees for unfair officiating in favor of Caitlin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes

The NCAA’s March Madness never disappoints basketball fans. Every other day, at least one game causes controversy among fans and viewers. Today, the topic of discussion was the a between women’s college basketball teams. The Iowa Hawkeyes, led by Caitlin Clark, played against the West Virginia Mountaineers on Monday. NBA star Damian Lillard also took part in the discussion.

The Hawkeyes 64-54 victory over the Mountaineers caused a lot of controversy. Caitlin Clark‘s Iowa seemed to be favored by the NCAA referees during the game. The Hawkeyes had 30 free throw attempts, adding 25 points to the score, while West Virginia only attempted five. In the entire game, they made just three of them. The Mountaineers were also called for 27 personal fouls to Iowa’s 11.

YouTube video

The Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard participated as a viewer for March Madness and watched the matchup. Lillard also noticed the irregularities in the referees’ officiating. The player took to his social media to defend West Virginia. The player called out the referees. This is what he wrote:

FS Video
I feel like West Virginia women's team getting did bad by these refs.
Dame Lillard via X

Iowa’s guard Caitlin Clark was again the star of the show as she scored 32 points, 11 of which came from the free throws. Despite the poor officiating towards West Virginia, the team still managed to give a tough competition to the Hawkeyes. But Iowa came up strong and won in the end. The win has benefitted the Hawkeyes tremendously, as the team is now in the Sweet 16 again.

Fans call out NCAA referees for favoring the Iowa Hawkeyes

Caitlin Clark was recently called out for complaining about uncalled fouls in games. The player seems to be attempting to get as many whistles as possible for the past few games. The basketball world is certainly not happy with the guard’s actions. The officiating of the Iowa vs West Virginia game has only added fuel to the fire.

The huge difference between fouls and free throw attempts makes the fans furious. Along with fans, experienced NBA players also acknowledged the unfairness in the NCAA’s officiating. Fans on social media did not hold back from trolling Clark and the NCAA referees. Basketball fans expressed their disappointment by sharing their reactions on X.

In the win against West Virginia, the star wrote her name in college basketball history for yet another time. In Clark’s 32-point performance, the guard broke the NCAA’s single-season record. The player needed 29 points to pass Kelsey Plum‘s 2016-17 season record. The young star now has 1,113 points this season as she moves ahead in the NCAA championship race.

In Case You Missed: