What happened in postgame scuffle between Wichita State and UNLV basketball teams?
The intensity in the final minute of action in Sunday night’s men’s basketball game between Wichita State and UNLV carried over into the postgame handshake line.
Following Wichita State’s dramatic 74-73 victory over UNLV in the consolation game of the Main Event tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, ESPN cameras caught a shouting match between assistant coaches from each team that led to some pushing and shoving from both sides.
Afterward, WSU coach Isaac Brown and UNLV coach Kevin Kruger chalked up the harmless exchange to the emotional finish.
“No, I didn’t (want the game to end that way) and I’m sorry that it happened,” Brown said. “I was going in there trying to break them up. I was telling both sides, ‘Let’s handle this the classy way.’ Both of us were to blame. I’m just glad nothing happened and everybody got separated. Those kids wanted to win. We wanted to win. Sometimes in the heat of the moment, it’s hard to control your emotions. But nothing happened. It got broke up. We’re all good.”
Kruger, the son and former assistant under longtime Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger, pointed out there is some familiarity with the WSU coaching staff after he faced off against the Shockers several times in recent season.
UNLV top assistant coach Carlin Hartman, another former assistant at OU, was at the center of the testy exchange with WSU’s assistant coaches. When both sides needed to be separated, the head coaches for each side worked quickly to pull their teams away and head to the locker rooms without further incident.
“Tensions are pretty tight at the end of games and our coaching staff, we know those guys at Wichita,” Kruger said. “The players know each other. I’m sure whatever it was, it probably wasn’t that big of a deal.”
Neither head coach could pinpoint what exactly started the scuffle, but both agreed it was likely pent-up emotion following the dramatic finish.
In the final minute alone, WSU went from up 72-69 to down 73-72 with 5.5 seconds left, only to take the lead again on a pair of Tyson Etienne free throws with 3.4 seconds left following a controversial foul call on UNLV. The game ended on a no-call when a UNLV player stumbled driving toward the basket for the potential game-winner, inciting the Las Vegas locals even more.
The WSU players said they thought the ruckus stemmed from UNLV’s frustrations of losing an 11-point, second-half lead.
“They just took an ‘L’ in their home town, so they were just mad. That’s all,” WSU sophomore Monzy Jackson said.
“I just think it was them not liking how the game finished and them losing and that’s what made tempers flare,” WSU junior Craig Porter said. “We kept our composure, though. That’s just part of basketball. It’s intense and sometimes tempers flare.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2021 at 6:22 AM.
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