LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Atlantic Coast Conference is reprimanding University of Louisville women’s basketball coach Jeff Walz for violating the ACC Sportsmanship Policy and fining UofL $20,000 because of the violation.

Walz expressed displeasure with the officials after the Cards loss to Syracuse Sunday, Feb. 11. The Cardinals were up 72-71 and had two fouls to give. Olivia Cochran grabbed Syracuse’s Dyaisha Fair, and it was called an intentional foul with two seconds left in the game. A regular foul would have given the Orange the ball, but the intentional foul put Fair on the free-throw line and possession of the ball. Syracuse won 73-72.

In his postgame news conference, Walz said, “It’s a God-awful call. It’s absolutely terrible officiating. They should be embarrassed. But, you know, I’ll get my fine and I’m sure I’ll get a letter of reprimand, but at this point somebody has to start holding the officials accountable.”

The money from the imposed institutional fine will be placed into the Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship account.

The ACC Sportsmanship Policy reads: ““Public criticism of officials or public comments evaluating the officiating of particular contests is not in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics. Individuals associated with the athletics program are prohibited, therefore, from commenting while acting in an official capacity on officiating other than directly to the Conference office.”
The ACC says it considers the matter closed and won’t comment any further.

Louisville is back on the road and takes on Boston College, Thursday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m.