Samir Doughty’s eyes were still bloodshot as he sat slouched in front of his locker, teammates glancing over to him as he fielded his first question from the gathering media before a swarm of cameras and microphones enveloped the area completely.

All eyes were on Doughty after the controversial foul call against him with 0.6 seconds to play in the Final Four, sending Virginia’s Kyle Guy to the free-throw line for three shots that ended Auburn’s magical NCAA Tournament run, 63-62, Saturday night in Minneapolis.

“Definitely an emotional moment right now,” Dougthy said. “…. It’s definitely a lot of emotions running around the room.”

Doughty managed to keep his in check, though, even as he was repeatedly asked about the most heartbreaking moment of his basketball career.

Auburn thought it was on its way to its first national championship game with a two-point win against top-seeded Virginia. The Cavaliers trailed with 1.5 seconds to play, with an inbound pass from the sideline coming up. Ty Jerome inbounded it to Guy in the left corner, the junior guard turning and firing up an attempted game-winning 3-pointer with Doughty contesting and the shot falling short as the buzzer sounded.

For a moment, the Tigers were title game-bound. Until they weren’t.

“I thought the game was over,” Auburn assistant Steven Pearl said. “Then I saw somebody’s hand up with a whistle, and I was like, ‘Oh, shit, they called a foul and they’re sending one of the best free-throw shooters in the country, if not the best, to the line.’”

A late whistle by referee James Breeding sent Auburn’s celebrating fans in U.S. Bank Stadium into pure incredulity. Anfernee McLemore and Austin Wiley immediately raised their hands to their heads in disbelief.

“That ain’t no foul,” Doughty thought to himself in the moment.

Everyone knows what happened next.

Guy, an 81.8 percent free-throw shooter, drilled the first two to tie the game. Bruce Pearl called Auburn’s final timeout. Then Guy’s third free throw fell through the net like a proverbial nail in Auburn’s coffin, giving Virginia the one-point lead.

“It seemed like the ref wasn’t about to call the call, but I can’t really tell you what’s going on in these refs’ minds,” Doughty said. “I’m pretty sure, like I said, they’re going to make the best decision to their ability, so I can’t really talk, can’t really speak on what’s going on in their mind and why it was so late.”

Doughty was at first confident that he hadn’t fouled Guy, but he admitted he hadn’t yet watched a replay in the aftermath of the game.

He was making a conscious effort to avoid fouling while still contesting the shot; it’s what Auburn’s coaching staff preaches defensively. Doughty did the same thing about seven seconds earlier, when he contested a made 3-pointer by Guy on the other side of the court that cut Auburn’s lead to one with 6.5 seconds to play.

“I know I’ve watched a lot of film on him,” Doughty said. “Him and (Ty) Jerome kick their legs out a lot when they shoot a lot of shots. That’s why I tried to just be right there and allow him to shoot the ball, and whatever happens, happens. He just hit a 3 the play right before and I played defense the same exact way. I’m not really sure exactly how that foul got called, but I’m pretty sure the refs made the right decision.”

It was a decision that many in the Auburn locker room questioned after the game, especially considering how the first 39 minutes were called. The two teams combined for just 24 fouls, and Auburn had two fouls to give in the final seven seconds before Virginia even reached the bonus.

“I was super surprised,” Doughty said. “They hadn’t been calling those fouls all game. It was actually plays where there were fouls on 3-point shots and it wasn’t getting called at all, so for them to call that play — call that foul the last play, it was kind of surprising.”

Added senior guard Bryce Brown: “Guy had contested shots the whole entire game. It was a few calls that they probably could’ve called that were worse than that when he was shooting the shot that they didn’t call, but I felt like they let that play decide the game, and I don’t agree with that.”

Brown was the most vocal of Auburn’s players when discussing the call that effectively ended his college career. After the game, while walking to the locker room, Brown was seen on video saying the “NCAA needs some new refs.” Fittingly, it was Doughty in the hallway trying to calm Brown down.

In the locker room, Brown said he regretted the comment, but he wasn’t going to hold back on his feelings, adding that he believes the officials should let “players decide the game.”

The NCAA also released a statement on the foul, defending the call by Breeding.

Doughty, for his part, handled it all diplomatically, showing poise in the face of the most brutal moment of his career.

“I definitely feel like we deserved a better result, but it’s not always going to be like that,” Doughty said. “Just going to allow God to take care of the decisions, but we definitely can’t control what happened on that last play. So, not much I can say about that.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.