Late in the first half of Saturday's contest at Purdue, Wisconsin guard Kamari McGee was called for a flagrant 2 foul, and was subsequently ejected on one of the most questionable calls of the season. McGee was fighting through a screen and made hard contact with Purdue's Trey Kaufmann-Renn in what was an obvious standard basketball play.
Watch the play below for the full sequence.
Kamari McGee EJECTED on this play 😳🤔 pic.twitter.com/17eAjPGT74
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) February 15, 2025
Greg Gard said McGee's flagrant 2 foul fueled the Badgers' win
It's safe to say the call riled up fans everywhere, including head coach Greg Gard and the rest of the Badger squad.
"I think actually McGee getting the ejection threw a little bit more gas on our fire, and really united us," Gard said. "I probably talked less in these huddles than I have all year, because they were so engaged and so instrumental and instructive with what they wanted to do, on both ends of the floor."
The Badgers went on to put up 58 points in the second half on their way to a commanding win over the No. 7 ranked Boilermakers. When asked about the questionable call, Gard harbored no ill will towards the officials.
"It's a hard job to do, and, I thought that when they gave me the explanation, that is the letter of the law," said Gard. "Not really up for debate, so, we needed to move on and keep playing. We had a lot of basketball left, and we didn't need to dwell on that."
Time and time again these Badgers have been tested in various ways and they keep finding ways to win. After being predicted to be a bottom half team in the Big Ten this preseason, Wisconsin and Greg Gard are proving all the doubters wrong, this time with a win over a top-ten team in the country.