Arizona’s Adia Barnes reprimanded for comment on officials

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TUCSON, Ariz. - The Pac-12 Conference has reprimanded No. 10 Arizona women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes for public comments about officiating following a game against Oregon last weekend.

Barnes was incensed following a testy 68-66 loss to the Ducks on Saturday that included heated exchanges between her and Oregon coach Kelly Graves.

"The Conference is responsible for enforcing rules established by the Pac-12 membership, one of which prohibits coaches from publicly commenting about officiating," Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff said in a statement. "Should our coaches wish to provide feedback, there is a protocol in place which allows them to do so directly to the coordinator of officiating."

Barnes took issue with several calls by the officials after Oregon shot 26 free throws and Arizona shot 10. The Ducks won it on Endyia Rogers’ jump shot with 0.4 seconds left.

"It is what it is and that’s what the Pac-12 is: we’re going to get homered at different places and that was clearly going on today," Barnes said after the game.

The coaches got caught up in the tense game, with Barnes and her players claiming Graves repeatedly cussed at the Arizona coach. Barnes apologized on Twitter for flipping her middle finger in Graves’ direction after the game and continued to respond on social media the next day.

"Despite the disrespect and being cussed at numerous times, I should have not responded back," she tweeted. "If you would choose to sit and get cussed at by a man that’s on you and what you are willing to tolerate. But I’m not that woman!"

Graves called the controversy overblown when asked about it after the Ducks’ 72-59 win over No. 9 UConn on Jan. 17.

"I think whatever happened after the game has been blown up, to be honest with you," he said. "I don’t think it was anything more on either side. That’s what competitors do. We compete, and sometimes that’s not always pretty. But I think it was blown out of proportion."

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More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25