Texas beat Baylor 76-71 on Monday in a battle between two of the best teams in college basketball. But coming out of that game, several fans found themselves angry at someone who wasn’t affiliated with either team — but the referee John Higgins.
During the game, ESPN released a graphic of Higgins’ incredibly busy schedule in the week leading up to Monday’s showdown between the Bear And Longhorns.
On Tuesday, January 24, Higgins officiated a game between Penn State and Rutgers. A day later, Higgins was on the other coast, playing in San Diego State’s home win over Utah State. On Thursday, he was in the Pacific Northwest, celebrating Utah’s road win over Oregon State. After a day off Friday, Higgins was in the Bay Area Saturday, picking up Stanford’s home win over Cal. On Sunday, he was in Indiana celebrating Purdue’s win over Michigan State. On Monday, Higgins was in Austin.
Matt Norlander of CBS Sports shared the graphic.
That’s six games in five different states. New Jersey and San Diego are on opposite sides of the country. Two games took place in California, but there was one game in another state between them. Each game was in a city more than 1,000 miles from the previous one, with the lone exception (Stanford after Oregon State) also being the only pair of games with an off day between them. And like Bill DiFilippo of Uproxx Sports detailedthe schedule is even busier than that.
Basketball fans had a lot to say about Higgins’ wild and circuitous journey across the United States.
Sure, it’s a busy travel schedule. We can only hope that Higgins’ next week is less frenetic than the last.
(Matt Norlander, Bill DiFilippoPhoto credit: ESPN)
