Illinois' RJ Melendez gets technical call for hanging on rim to protect himself from fall

The officiating in college basketball has been an issue throughout this men's NCAA tournament, and that trend continued once again during Sunday's second-round matchup between Illinois and Houston.

Officials basically penalized Illinois' R.J. Melendez for protecting himself from a potentially horrific fall.

With a little less than nine minutes to go in the second half, Melendez broke free down court for a fast-break dunk to cut the deficit to four. Now, Melendez went quickly into his two-handed dunk and hung on the rim to let his momentum swing him back. It wasn't an unsportsmanlike move, but the officials couldn't help themselves.

They called Melendez for a technical foul for hanging on the rim.

I mean, that’s just a terrible call. If Melendez didn’t do that, he could have hurt himself. Illinois head coach Brad Underwood was clearly upset with the judgment from the refs there.