Barta: Any discussion with Big Ten about missed timeout would be 'part of a regular process'

IOWA CITY — Like head coaches, athletic directors generally can't and won't comment directly on officiating — especially to criticize it.

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta is no different. When addressing Thursday's Presidential Committee on Athletics meeting, he did make a knowing nod to the frustration of the Iowa men's basketball team's 101-89 double-overtime loss — the subtext being that missed timeout — at Minnesota on Wednesday night at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

He didn't dwell on the call during the meeting, but Barta had a firsthand view of what happened in the waning seconds of regulation — where Brady Ellingson and Jordan Bohannon attempted to call timeout, but a jump ball was awarded to Minnesota after the Gophers' Jordan Murphy tied up with Ellingson while his left foot rested out of bounds.

After the game, Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said, 'I can't. Just don't (ask) it,' when the situation was brought up.

McCaffery spent time expressing his frustrations to the officials on the court during the game, and Barta said Thursday that was the extent of anyone from Iowa addressing officials at the game. While other athletic directors from other schools have gotten into officiating at games, Barta said that's not his personal policy.

'I've never in my career — 30 years — gotten involved in a conversation with an official at the game,' Barta said Thursday. 'That wouldn't be appropriate. The coach has the ability to talk with the officials as they do, and then if it needs any more discussion, it can happen during the week. That's just not something I'd ever get involved with on site.'

Objections or clarifications that might be sought during potential midweek talks would likely center on an explanation for what Hawkeyes players said after the game was, to them, a clear scenario. Ellingson and Bohannon said they both were calling timeout as loud as they could and trying to get the referee's attention. Additionally, guard Peter Jok said 'we called timeout. Coach told the ref we were going to call timeout when we got the ball back. You could hear Brady calling timeout.'

Any discussion this week will be made with the league office and either the Iowa coaching staff or Barta as well. Barta didn't specify exactly when that discussion might take place in reference to Wednesday's game, but acknowledged one would likely happen as part of a regular process.

'When a game is over, the Big Ten does a nice job in football and men's basketball — those are the two that seem to come up the most — about having officiating review,' Barta said. 'And so it's part of a regular routine. Part of that regular routine is that we'll certainly give our feedback to (Wednesday) night, to the week before and to next week as part of a regular process. They do a nice job of just constantly staying in touch with us — mostly the coaches, but once in a while with me.'

Up next for Iowa is a trip to the Breslin Center on Saturday to face Michigan State. Tipoff is at 5 p.m. on BTN.

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