Santa Clara’s Sendek: ‘I unequivocally called timeout’ before Oweh’s buzzer beater
Herb Sendek described the final nine seconds of regulation in No. 10 Santa Clara’s 89-84 loss to No. 7 Kentucky in Friday’s first-round NCAA Tournament matchup as “a really euphoric high, followed by a tough one to swallow.”
With the clock draining quickly, Kentucky’s Otega Oweh had just tied the game at 70 with a layup. In the next seven seconds, Santa Clara reserve forward — and the team’s third-leading scorer — Allen Graves delivered a perfectly placed 3-point jump shot on the fast break to give the Broncos a 3-point edge.
Santa Clara’s large collection of fans, decked out in maroon and white, celebrated what appeared to be Graves’ one shining moment of March Madness, which hadn’t seen the program on the bracket for 30 years.
Instead, Oweh launched a transition 3-pointer of his own, a stunning response that quickly quieted the Santa Clara faithful and forced overtime.
After the overtime period, Sendek responded to a question about the moments following Graves’ made 3-pointer, during which the coach appeared to have been signaling for a timeout.
“Well, I unequivocally called timeout,” Sendek said. “But they didn’t grant it. I mean, I think the video evidence is clear. And anybody is able to pull it up. So, you know, which, you know, is a likely response after Allen hits the three that the coach would be calling timeout to set the defense, which I tried to do, and I was successful in doing, other than it wasn’t acknowledged or recognized. And so that’s what happened.”
In the highlight footage, Sendek can be seen standing on the sideline, near the end of his bench, with his arms crossed. Approximately two seconds (of real time) after Graves’ shot passed through the hoop, Sendek ran down the sideline after official Todd Austin, whose back was turned to Sendek — Austin did not appear to see the coach’s signal — as he sprinted to keep up with the action.
At that point of play, Santa Clara still had three timeouts available.
Per official NCAA rules, Sendek would have legally been able to call a timeout at that point in the game, despite the fact that Graves’ made shot meant Kentucky was in possession of the basketball.
After Sendek’s postgame declaration that he’d called a timeout but had not been granted one, Graves and senior forward Elijah Mahi were asked their perspective, and whether they chose not to foul in the aftermath of Graves’ shot because Sendek was signaling for the timeout.
“Yeah. I guess,” Mahi said. “But honestly, like there was just so much going on in that moment. There was just so much going on in the last seconds. Like right after Allen hit the shot, obviously the second, I think in that second I was kind of like, ‘Damn,’ looking at the time, seeing how much time was up. … Like I said, there was so much going on that I didn’t realize it.”
Graves said he did know Sendek was attempting to call a timeout.
“I would say there was a lot of emotions involved in that play,” Graves said. “Obviously hitting a shot like that was exciting, and then kind of lose your man, maybe. I know Coach was calling timeout. So we thought we were going to be granted that, but we didn’t and then came down, threw up a prayer, and it went in.”
Santa Clara’s 2025-26 campaign comes to an end with an overall record of 26-9 (15-3 WCC). Kentucky will face No. 2 seed Iowa State in Sunday’s second-round matchup.
