Notre Dame head coach Micah Shreswsberry was not happy with the college basketball officials in Berkeley, California. He charged at a referee in rage after a controversial foul call resulted in a loss.
It was a wild scene.
The college basketball coach had to be restrained by his players. His eyes glistened with rage.
Cal beat Notre Dame on a questionable foul call.
Both California, Berkeley and Notre Dame are off to pretty strong starts this season. The former entered the weekend at 12-2. The latter entered at 10-4.
It was a four-point game at halftime with the Golden Bears trailing the Fighting Irish. They rallied back during the second half to win by only one point.
However, the game-deciding point was a result of a crazy sequence with less than 10 seconds remaining.
Cal trailed by three. Notre Dame smartly tried to foul. (Always foul up three!)
The officials did not blow the whistle on either foul attempt by the visitors as the home team brought the ball up the court. Dai Dai Ames did a great job of avoiding the intentional foul. There wasn’t much there.
And then he pulled up from beyond the arc.
Irish guard Logan Imes tried to foul him before the ball left his hands, but the shot went in to tie the game at 71. The referee initially ruled it as an and-1 opportunity and sent Ames to the line.
— – (@Spicoli_____) January 3, 2026
He quickly changed his mind and said the foul occurred before the shot.
Golden Bears head coach Mark Madsen lost his mind over the initial reversal. But that did not last long either! The officials reversed the reversal to count the basket.
— – (@Spicoli_____) January 3, 2026
Ames made his free throw to take a one-point lead. Cal immediately put the ball in play and called a timeout with 2.4 seconds remaining.
The mayhem was not yet over!
Micah Shrewsberry went nuclear.
Notre Dame was unable to win the game on its shot attempt as time expired. Cal won 72-71.
Shrewsberry did not agree with how the game ended, to say the least.
He charged at the referee as soon as the clock expired. It looked like he was ready to throw hands.
Here’s the final sequence of Notre Dame-Cal, with Irish coach Micah Shrewsberry charging toward an official as the horn sounds on a 72-71 loss: pic.twitter.com/UX55OUHimV
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) January 3, 2026
Here’s another look from the replay:
— fieldof72 (@Field_of_72) January 3, 2026
It was a heated altercation. Shrewsberry was irate, to say the least. Multiple players and coaches had to pull him away from the official. He needed to be forcibly restrained.
The Irish led by as many as 12 points in the first half and they were up 69-65 with 16 seconds left before they blew the lead. Micah Shrewsberry was not happy for a lot of reasons. The controversial and-1 only added salt to the wound. He was fortunate that it did get even further out of hand. As was the official.