Referees made major mistake in March Madness game

The NCAA tournament is the most high-profile and most-watched event in college basketball, which means the referees undoubtedly want to be at their best. Unfortunately, that was not the case Tuesday night.

On Tuesday, the Texas Longhorns and the NC State Wolfpack faced off in the First Four, looking to play their way into the 64-team field as an 11-seed with a win.

The game was a close, back-and-forth contest until the closing seconds, when Texas hit a two-point bucket with just seconds on the clock to take a 68-66 lead and ultimately win the game and advance to the round of 64 on Thursday.

However, the referees made a pretty clear mistake that should have given NC State the chance to tie the game.

Shortly after the basket was made, a Texas coach could be seen running onto the court in celebration, with another coach running onto the court after him to pull him back to the bench.

Texas coaches all the way in the paint while the game still happening lmao how was this not a technical pic.twitter.com/mzV8YuXp41

— John (@iam_johnw) March 18, 2026

The coach seemingly believed the shot was a buzzer-beater and that the game was over. However, he was wrong. There was about 1 second remaining on the clock, which meant that he should not have been on the court. By rule, the officials should have awarded NC State two technical foul shots as well as possession of the ball.

The NC State players quickly acknowledged the issue, as they began gesturing to the coaches on the court and looking toward the officials to make the call, but a technical foul was never awarded.

It’s worth noting that after the shot, NC State called a timeout, and the play was stopped by the officials to review the clock. That is the most likely explanation for why officials did not issue the technical foul.

However, the video clearly shows the coach stepping onto the court well before time was called.

Ultimately, no technical foul was called, and Texas went on to win the game by a final score of 68-66, advancing to the round of 64.