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Arizona’s Kobi Simmons breaks ankles, picks up technical (Video)

By Gerald Bourguet

January 21, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Kobi Simmons (2) shoots against the UCLA Bruins during the first half at Pauley Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
January 21, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Kobi Simmons (2) shoots against the UCLA Bruins during the first half at Pauley Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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Arizona’s Kobi Simmons broke the ankles of UCLA’s Bryce Alford, pulled up to hit the jumper…and then was hit with a technical foul of his own.

There seems to be an epidemic among officials — no matter the sport — to limit how much and how often players can celebrate great plays. From flags for excessive celebration to technicals for taunting, every sports league seems to be suffering from what the “No Fun League” started.

Case in point, today’s highly anticipated college basketball matchup between the No. 3 UCLA Bruins and No. 13 Arizona Wildcats — a game with major Pac-12 ramifications — was sure to be a high octane affair.

Early in the second half, Wildcats freshman guard Kobi Simmons pulled down a monster rebound, slapping the ball as he hauled it it. He took off down court, sized up his defender Bryce Alford, hit him with a wicked crossover and pulled up to drain the shot, putting Arizona up 14.

Unfortunately, the official saw something he didn’t like and immediately whistled him for a technical foul.

Simmons had been feeling it leading up to that point, making another jumper right before that sweet pull-up, but the untimely technical robbed him and his teammates of their momentum in front of the away crowd.

As of the 5:58 mark in the second half, UCLA had chopped Arizona’s 14-point lead down to seven. Outside of four free throws and two steals in the 11+ minutes since the technical, Simmons went quiet, though he was the team’s leading scorer with 18 points late in the second half.

The Wildcats (6-0) are looking to stay perfect in conference play, while the Bruins are hoping to improve to 7-1 against a very good team at home. Arizona looked to be in control late in the second half, but it’d be nice if the officials would actually let the kids jaw a bit when they make a big play.

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The NCAA has to be more careful about this than the professional sports leagues since these are college kids, and we should point out that we don’t know what exactly he said. But with a sweet crossover and pull-up like that, yeah, we’re thinking Kobi Simmons deserved to rub it in his defender’s face a little bit.