Basketball Player Scores for the Wrong Team

Kentucky Wildcat freshman James Young scored 18 points in last night’s exhibition game against DII Montevallo. Only, two of those points were for the wrong team.

The game was relatively uneventful, except for one moment about halfway through the second half. The point guard jumped to save the ball from heading into the stands, threw the ball backwards to save it from going out of bounds. And then it beautifully arched right into Montevallo’s basket.

Kentucky coach John Calipari said the play “made me laugh. I thought he made a 3(-pointer) out there.” But the basket only counted for 2-points for Montevallo thanks to an obscure NCAA Rule [Rule 5, Section 1(1a)]:

“When a player scores a field goal in the opponent’s basket, it shall count two points for the opponent regardless of the location on the playing court from where it was released. Such a field goal shall not be credited to a player in the scorebook but shall be indicated with a footnote.”

Oh, and Young’s 2 points for Montevallo actually didn’t matter much at all. Kentucky won the game 95-72.