The second-guessing began within minutes of the final buzzer.<\/p>\n
Turner Sports analyst Charles Barkley accused Texas coach Sean Miller of making \u201ca mistake\u201d on Thursday night by removing foul-plagued 7-footer Matas Vokietaitis for the Longhorns\u2019 final defensive possession of a 79-77 loss to Purdue<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n That decision backfired on Miller when Texas did not have its top big man on the floor to block out Purdue\u2019s Trey Kaufman-Renn<\/a> after Braden Smith\u2019s attempt at a tie-breaking layup rimmed out. Kaufman-Renn outmuscled 6-foot-8 Dailyn Swain for position under the rim and tipped in the rebound with less than a second to go<\/a>, sending the No. 2 Boilermakers to the Elite Eight and ending No. 11 Texas\u2019 unexpected NCAA tournament run.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have a big guy in there in that situation,\u201d Barkley said.<\/p>\n \u201cI know he had four fouls. What are you saving him for? \u2026 He\u2019s their best rebounder. He\u2019s their only big they really have out there. You can\u2019t give up an offensive rebound in that situation. I love Sean Miller. He\u2019s a hell of a coach. But that was a screw-up.\u201d<\/p>\n Miller defended the decision to remove Vokietaitis after Texas tied the game with 11.9 seconds to go in regulation, pointing out that Purdue\u2019s starting center Oscar Cluff had just fouled out on the previous possession. The idea of asking the slow-footed Vokietaitis to defend against a drive did not appeal to Miller, whether that was Kaufman-Renn attacking him or Smith hunting that mismatch via a ball screen.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cIt had not worked out very well for us during the game,\u201d Miller said. \u201cBy playing quicker or smaller, we could switch that and really defend the drive in a better fashion. Because Matas can\u2019t really switch. Like, you can\u2019t put Matas on Braden Smith on a switch.\u201d<\/p>\n