Trevon Brazile's foul helped St. John's rally

In a heated second-round NCAA Tournament matchup, Arkansas faced St. John’s with coaches Rick Pitino and John Calipari at the center of attention. The game was intense, marked by physical play from both teams. In the first half, Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile received a flagrant 1 foul. This happened with 6:10 left in the half after a confrontation with St. John’s player Zuby Ejiofor. The two were trying to secure a rebound when the officials decided to review the play. Initially, the call was a common foul. However, after watching the replay, officials upgraded it to a flagrant 1. This type of foul is noted for excessive or unnecessary contact. Following the foul, Ejiofor made one of his free throws and scored a dunk on the next play, helping St. John’s rally from an eight-point deficit to tie the game. The altercation was not the first between Brazile and Ejiofor, who had traded verbal jabs earlier. CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore initially disagreed with the flagrant call but later changed his opinion after seeing the replay, which showed Brazile’s arm contacted Ejiofor’s head and neck area. At halftime, Arkansas held a slim lead of 35-32 against the Big East champions, St. John’s.