Damian Lillard SLAMS referees after Iowa beats West Virginia in March Madness… fueling conspiracy theories as fans accuse NCAA of rigging game to ensure star Caitlin Clark stays in

Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes are moving on to the Sweet 16. But many people on social media believe that the referees in their matchup against West Virginia were not calling the game fairly.

In a physical contest that ended with a 64-54 win for the Hawkeyes, people were shocked by the foul and free throw discrepancy between the two teams.

West Virginia had two players foul out and four players on four fouls while only getting five foul shots. Meanwhile, Iowa had no players close to fouling out and sank 25-of-30 foul shots.

Not only is that a free throw discrepancy of 30-5, the Hawkeyes were only called for 11 fouls while the Mountaineers were charged with 27 throughout the game.

Multiple people voiced their displeasure on Twitter, including Milwaukee Bucks star point guard Damian Lillard.

Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard criticized the quality of referees in the contest

JJ Quinerly was one of two WVU players to foul out while her team shot 25 fewer free throws

‘I feel like West Virginia women’s team getting did bad by these refs,’ the Bucks guard tweeted out on Monday night.

People in his replies and quote tweets seemed to amplify a wild conspiracy theory that the NCAA rigged this game to get a re-match of last year’s Iowa-LSU title game in the Elite Eight. There is no evidence of any corruption surrounding the tournament. 

‘NCAA won’t let their star player / money maker get eliminated this early,’ read one reply to Lillard’s tweet.

‘HMMMM!! It’s all about the money!!’, wrote another.

Elsewhere, there were many posts about the quality of the officiating – with many saying that West Virginia was robbed by the referees.

Posts on social media criticized the referees – with some promoting conspiracy theories

One observer added: ‘This is absurd. Absolutely infuriating. I feel for the West Virginia team. They’ve played a better game than Iowa and they’re not going to get rewarded at all. Hope these refs don’t advance.’

‘These no-calls on Iowa are insane,’ wrote another user. ‘West Virginia has been getting no help from the refs. They probably should’ve won.’

Another post read, ‘Refs making sure Caitlin Clark and Iowa don’t get upset. Laughably obvious. West Virginia deserves this win.’

Pulling for West Virginia, another user said. ‘These refs should be investigated dawg. Doing everything to cheat for Iowa.’

Another said, ‘West Virginia you tried your best, you just didn’t have enough to go up against both the refs and Iowa.’

This is not the only time in recent days that referees in the women’s tournament have been criticized for lopsided foul calls. In fact, LSU was on the favorable end of the whistle in their close victory on Sunday.

While the Tigers ended up clawing back and winning in dominant style, that was in part due to having only 16 fouls while Middle Tennessee State was called for 31.

LSU also shot 37 free throws while MTSU only took 9.