Video: Refs Fall For Embarrassing Flop In Kentucky-Utah Game

Kentucky basketball suffered its second loss of the season on Wednesday, as a wild college basketball season that has been less-than-kind to top programs rages on. The Wildcats fell to Utah in Las Vegas, 69-66.

In a game that finishes within one possession, controversial individual plays stand out. Last night's game featured one particularly awful flop by the Utes.

Trailing the Utes 58-48, Kentucky's Kahlil Whitney drove to the hoop. Utah's Riley Battin attempted to get set to draw a charge, caught maybe glancing contact, and slopped pretty spectacularly to draw a call.

Kentucky fans were outraged, and rightfully so.

ESPN's Jay Bilas, the network's top college basketball analyst and a pretty vocal critic of things like this, had a pretty comical suggestion for changing the charge rule for referees:

There are definitely some refs that seem way into the "aggressive air punch."

Kentucky, ranked No. 6 entering the game, finished the game on a run. UK finished on an 18-11 run and tied things up at 66 at one point, but Utah managed to shut them out for the last 1:43 and score enough to win the game.

Tyrese Maxey and Ashton Hagans led the way for the Wildcats, with 18 and 16 points a piece. Utah's Timmy Allen led all scorers with 25, but it was a balanced effort, with four of the Utes' five starters going for double digits.

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Flop of the Year. How is it possible that officials fall for this? Be better.

This is not defense. pic.twitter.com/bx4sLFuyj7

— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) December 19, 2019

">Rob Dauster]