Walk-on’s dunk costs K-State a point before game against Kentucky

Two seconds cost Kansas State one point before it even started the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.

That’s because of an “administrative technical foul” called on K-State walk-on Brian Rohleder, who dunked during warmups.

The problem? His dunk came with 19:58 left on the pregame clock before K-State took on Kentucky in a Midwest Regional opener. The rules say no dunking 20 minutes before tipoff.

In the locker room after Kansas State’s 56-49 loss, Rohleder said he was doing a typical warmup routine and didn’t realize the clock was ticking.

“Just made a mistake and dunked the ball,” Rohleder said. “The team had my back, they said they didn’t care and they would try to make it up for me.”

K-State coach Bruce Weber said during his postgame news conference that Rohleder had tears in his eyes after the call.

“I told Brian Rohleder I love him. He is the greatest kid in the world. To me that's sad ...” Weber said. “That dude is a walk‑on engineer, studies 'til 5:00 in the morning, comes to practice, plays harder than anybody else, goes and studies again.”

Kentucky got two shots before the game began. Andrew Harrison missed the first technical free throw but made the second.

The official explanation came via pool reporter Bryan Burwell of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from the NCAA.

The violation fell under NCAA Rule 10, Section 4, Article 1.3: “A team member dunking or attempting to dunk a dead ball before or during the game, or during any intermission.”

An administrative technical foul does not count toward a team’s or individual’s total.

Rohleder, a 6 foot 3 sophomore from Wichita Bishop Carroll, redshirted last season after joining the team during the summer 2011 semester. He’s played 31 minutes this season, scoring two points.

This story was originally published March 21, 2014 at 9:30 PM with the headline "Walk-on’s dunk costs K-State a point before game against Kentucky."