Gabbie Marshall: Received hate comments after call vs. UConn

Iowa guard Gabbie Marshall said Saturday she had to delete her social media because of hate comments she received following an offensive foul she drew against UConn that helped determine the outcome of the game.

The Huskies had possession trailing 70-69 with a chance to take the lead. But Aaliyah Edwards was called for the offensive foul with 3.9 seconds remaining as she screened Marshall, who was trying to prevent the ball from coming to guard Paige Bueckers.

Iowa won to secure its spot in the national championship game against South Carolina on Sunday, but the debate about the foul call has been a hot topic since Friday night.

“I’ve gotten a lot of hate comments,” Marshall said during media availability before the national title game. “I don’t know. I’m not the one that made the call. So I’m not sure why they’re mad at me personally.”

Marshall said she has seen the discourse surrounding the call, particularly whether the officials should have made that call in the moment, knowing it had a direct impact on the way the game ended.

“When the right call’s the right call, it’s not fair to say you can’t make that call with 10 seconds left when you can make it with 10 minutes, or two minutes left,” Marshall said. “If it’s the right call, it’s the right call. It’s out of my control to make the calls, but personally I thought it was an illegal screen and it’s not like it was the first one of the game.”

As the team’s defensive stopper, Marshall drew the assignment to guard Bueckers in the game. Marshall shut down the former Player of the Year, particularly in the second half, as Bueckers scored just three points in the fourth quarter. Bueckers finished with a quiet 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting.

Afterward, Marshall said she knew UConn would try to get Bueckers open for a game-winning shot on that final possession, so she tried to stay on her hip. Marshall said she believes she did all the right things defensively, the way she does every game, which has made the conversation about the call all the more bothersome.

“I’ve deleted social media,” she said. “I feel like it just kind of overlooked the fact that I played my butt off the whole game trying to guard her, trying to get over screens the whole game and feel like that one play just consumed everything. That’s all anyone’s talking about. They’re not talking about the fact that it was a great game between two great teams.”

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said it is “unbelievable” and “immature” to attack Marshall for her role in the play.

“It’s unbelievable to me that you’re going to criticize a 22-year-old kid for something that she had no control over,” Bluder said. “I thought we handled that really well. We switched out onto it. I thought we were there to contest. I can’t believe people would be so immature as to attack a 22-year-old on doing their job and doing really, really well.”