It’s something you might expect to see at a hockey game, but the bench-clearing brawl Tuesday came during a basketball game between No. 3 Kansas and its rival Kansas State.
Players from both teams engaged in the fight with less than one second left on the clock of the Jayhawks’ win over Kansas State, CBS Sports reported.
It all started with Silvio De Sousa blocking the shot of DaJuan Gordon then Gordon taking away De Sousa’s chance to sink a basket with only seconds left in the game, ESPN reported. De Sousa, a Jayhawks’ forward blocked, a shot that Gordon attempted, knocking the Wildcats’ freshman guard to the floor. De Sousa was given a technical foul for taunting, according to ESPN.
Benches emptied at the end of the Kansas State-Kansas game. pic.twitter.com/zWv46h3RJC
— ESPN (@espn) January 22, 2020
Wildcats’ Antonio Gordon and David Sloan retaliated against De Sousa, then the benches from both sides emptied, ESPN reported. The mass of players fighting moved into the crowd, CBS Sports reported.
The Associated Press likened the fight to a rugby scrum.
At one point De Sousa picked up a chair as if to hit someone, but then dropped it, CBS Sports reported. ESPN said assistant coach Jerrance Howard actually grabbed the chair from De Sousa.
After several minutes, and intervention from coaches from both teams, as well as local police, the fight ended and the teams went to the locker rooms, ESPN reported.
But due to a rule set by the NCAA, five players from each team had to return to the court to finish the final tenth of a second of the game. Kansas State had technical free throws. The other players were ejected from the game for leaving the bench while the game was still in progress, ESPN reported.
The game ended with the Jayhawks beating the Wildcats 81-60, the AP reported.
Wednesday, Kansans coach Bill Self announced De Sousa has been suspended indefinitely pending the outcome of a review performed by both the University of Kansas and the Big 12 Conference, the AP reported.
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