Technical Foul Call on Illinois Guard RJ Melendez Draws Heavy Criticism

Illinois guard RJ Melendez was assessed a technical foul for hanging on the rim after a fast break dunk with 8:38 remaining in Sunday’s game between No. 5 Houston and No. 4 Illinois.

Both live and during the play and on replay, it appeared as though Melendez was not hanging on the rim after his dunk to taunt the opponent. Instead, it looked like he was hanging on the rim to stop his momentum so that he could come down with a safe landing and not injure himself.

Fans of the Illini in the arena and observers on social media seemed to agree that the officials missed this one. 

CBS analyst Reggie Miller was also among those who disagreed with the technical foul call.

“First of all, his momentum is taking him with him, he has to swing back,” Miller said. “You cannot give this young man a technical foul for this. He’s not showing up or anything, because if he doesn’t [hang on the rim] he is going to almost kill himself. You’ve gotta swing on the rim right here.” 

Retired official and CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore agreed with Miller’s explanation, and said that the call on the court for a technical should not have been made.

Brendan Quinn of The Athletic requested comment from the officials on the Melendez technical after the game, but per policy, explanations are only give for time and situational calls, not judgment calls on individual plays. Because of the policy, the officials did not have to release an explanation for pool reporter access.

Illini coach Brad Underwood was asked about the call in the postgame press conference.

“Yeah it’s deflating. You make a play, it changes the momentum of the game,“ Underwood said. “And have that called in the moment? I can’t wait to see it. He told me he shouldn’t ever have called it, but in the moment he calls it. Maybe it’s personal, I don’t know. When a kid has a full head of steam going 100 miles per hour, and we talk about safety and well-being of student-athletes, come on. And then to kill momentum like that? Horrible,” 

The Melendez dunk cut the Houston lead to 46-42, but the technical foul awarded Houston free throws and the basketball. The Cougars ultimately pulled away in the final minutes to win 68–53 and advance to their second consecutive Sweet 16. The Cougars made it to the Final Four in 2021, and this team is two wins away from making that dream a reality once again in 2022.