Report: Referee John Higgins received death threats from Kentucky fans

Kentucky fans were angry with the amount of fouls called against the Wildcats in their Elite Eight loss to North Carolina on Sunday, and some of them have crossed the line in expressing their frustrations.

According to a report from ESPN’s Jeff Goodman and Dana O’Neil, NCAA referee John Higgins met with law enforcement officials on Tuesday to discuss repeated phone calls he has received from Kentucky fans to both his home and business lines. Some of those calls included death threats, and Higgins’ phones have supposedly been “ringing off the hook” since the game.

Higgins owns a roofing business called Weatherguard Inc., and Kentucky fans have been harassing him via the company’s Facebook page with false and damaging messages. Higgins is still expected to work the Final Four this week in Phoenix.

Kentucky was called for 19 fouls in its dramatic 75-73 loss to UNC, including two each on on Malik Monk, De’Aaron Fox and Bam Adebayo in the first half. John Calipari was forced to sit the players for longer than he would have liked because of the foul situation, and he ripped the officiating crew after the game.

“You know, it’s amazing that we were in that game where they practically fouled out my team,” Calipari said. “Amazing that we had a chance.”

The loss was heartbreaking for the Wildcats, as evidenced by the video we showed you of players bawling their eyes out in the locker room. Still, no basketball game is worth making death threats over. The Kentucky fans who were responsible should face legal consequences.