During a chippy moment between two SEC rivals on Wednesday night, a first-half foul was called in the direction one might not have expected.
As Alabama hosted and eventually topped Florida, 98-93, Crimson Tide forward Mohamed Wague appeared to strike a Gators player with a forceful elbow, and not only was he not called for a foul, but his opponent was the one who drew the whistle.
The play started when Alabama’s Jarin Stevenson took a 3-point from the corner before it ended up rimming out.
Wague grabbed an offensive rebound under the basket but had the ball stripped, though Stevenson came sliding in to grab the loose ball.
Alex Condon (21) and forward Thomas Haugh (10) during the
Crimson Tide’s win. AP
But as Stevenson made his way to the ball, so did Florida’s Alex Condon, as he too went to the floor in hopes of securing it.
As this all unfolded, Wague came into the pile and on the way down to the paint, he smacked Condon in the back of his head with a right elbow.
Wague, a junior from The Bronx, was not called for a foul but Condron was, which appeared to set off Florida coach Todd Golden, who seemed dubious over the call in that situation.
According to the Gainesville Sun, Golden didn’t directly reference the referees in his postgame press conference, but he did hint at things not going the Gators’ way.
“There were some 50-50 things down the stretch that didn’t go our way,” Golden said after the game. “But in a tight game like that, there’s going to be some situations like that that you’ve got to power through.”
Wague — a PSAL Class A city champions with Frederick Douglass Academy in 2019 — played just three minutes, recording one rebound in Alabama’s win.
Condon scored 10 points on 4 of 10 shooting from the field while also adding four rebounds and three assists.