An official at the heart of one of the more controversial calls over the course of the Southeastern Conference basketball season has reportedly been suspended – and been suspended for a while.

Jimmy Hyams of WMNL radio in Knoxville, Tenn., reported Friday that Anthony Jordan, "was suspended by SEC after the LSU-UT game Feb. 23. He has not called SEC regular-season game since nor will he call any games in SEC tournament."

Sources: SEC men's basketball official Anthony Jordan, who had facebook post 5 years ago appearing to show he is an LSU fan, was suspended by SEC after the LSU-UT game Feb. 23. He has not called SEC regular-season game since nor will he call any games in SEC tournament. — Jimmy Hyams (@JimmyHyams) March 15, 2019

Jordan, part of the officiating crew in Baton Rouge, La., for Tennessee's road game at LSU in February called Tennessee's Grant Williams for a foul with 0.6 seconds left after going for a rebound of a missed Lamonte Turner 3. Williams collided with LSU's Javonte Smart – Smart made two free throws on the other end to lift the Tigers to the win.

Not long after that moment, a Facebook post dated Sept. 4, 2014, showe Jordan holding up an LSU shirt with the post captioned, “Strolling thru D-town Granada doing a lil site-seeing and look what I saw. To all my Bama’s..Geaux Tigers..”

The post was deleted after it surfaced on social media.

“I am aware of it,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said the following Monday during his weekly news conference which started with a question about the picture and the wake it made on social media. “Obviously it’s been brought to my attention. All I can tell you is that I have trust and faith in the SEC office, that I know they’re going to do their due diligence and look at it.



“They will handle it the way it should be handled. That’s really all I can say about it.”

The Southeastern Conference issued a statement on the situation to The Tennessean about the matter:

"Anthony Jordan, the official in this social media post, has communicated to us that while traveling in Spain five years ago he saw the t-shirt from an SEC team for sale in a store. He took a picture and posted that picture to be seen by friends via his social media account. He said it was his intent to make a light-hearted social media post about having seen the t-shirt in another country and not to express affinity for a particular school.

Jordan has officiated at a high level in the SEC for 19 years, including 11 assignments in NCAA postseason tournaments.

We do not find this social media post to be acceptable with our expectations and will proceed accordingly, while also acknowledging Mr. Jordan has a lengthy track record as a fair and impartial basketball official."

“In a situation like that, all I can tell you is the protocol I have to go through. And I truly believe the SEC will do their due diligence, which I have full confidence in," Barnes said in February. "I have been in contact with them since the game a couple different times. I appreciate them and how they talk to me and what we’ve talked about. I have full confidence they are going to do the right thing. I really do. They understand the situation.

"They are as upset about it as we would be. The fact is, they will handle it. We have to get ready to play another game.”