Things got very heated late in the Arizona-Arizona State basketball game Saturday, keeping CBS Sports announcers Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery busy sorting out what Eagle called an “unfortunate” situation.
Arizona’s Caleb Love and ASU’s BJ Freeman were ejected with about 30 seconds remaining. Initially, Love was the only player ejected, but a replay showed Freeman had headbutted Love, so he also got tossed. The CBS broadcast posted a replay, with a spotlight on Love and Freeman, clearly showing the headbutt.
“Oh, that’s an ejection, that’s a Flagrant 2 in my mind,” Raftery said.
“Correct,” Eagle concurred. “And that was the point Love was trying to make to the officials that he took a headbutt from BJ Freeman.”
After the teams exchanged technical free throws, Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley began motioning his bench players to the locker room.
“Bobby’s sending his team to the locker room,” Raftery observed.
Which gave the veteran announcer a chance to make a favorite point.
“You’ve heard me, I’ve harped on this, I think both teams, every game, should just to go the locker room,” Raftery said. “Let the coaches wave or shake hands.”
“You don’t want to exacerbate this,” Eagle said.
“And now Bobby Hurley is telling his staff to leave as well,” Eagle noted a few seconds later.
With about six seconds remaining, Hurley also started walking to the locker room.
“And Bobby’s going to leave as well,” Eagle said. “And [Arizona coach] Tommy Lloyd just said, ‘OK, we’ll talk another time.’ Hurley telling his team, ‘Hey, let’s get off the floor.'”
“This is not pretty,” Raftery said.
But ASU still had to throw the ball in bounds with less than a second left. Hurley had his players finish out the final half-second.
“Unfortunate, strange ending,” Eagle said.
After the game, Hurley threw a pointed barb at Love, hinting he would not vote for him for all-conference honors. He said Arizona’s 81-72 win was “done with no class.” He also justified sending his players to the locker room in the closing seconds.
“It was very heated, and I thought there was the possibility of something else happening,” Hurley said.
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.