Tag: bill self

The aftermath of the Kansas-Kansas State game Tuesday night in Lawrence quickly turned ugly and embarrassing for both programs. Just as time ran out on the Jayhawks’ 81-60 victory, a brawl broke out with both benches jumping in and escalating the situation, moving from the court and into the stands underneath one of the baskets.

With Kansas clearly winning this one, sophomore forward Silvio De Sousa was dribbling out the clock around midcourt when Kansas State freshman guard DaJuan Gordon stole the ball with about four seconds left. He tried to go for a literal last-second layup, but De Sousa caught up to him, blocked the shot and sent Gordon to the ground.

De Sousa then stood over Gordon, who was still on the ground, for a few seconds, and suddenly, they were surrounded by their teams for an all-out brawl.

Benches emptied at the end of the Kansas State-Kansas game. pic.twitter.com/zWv46h3RJC

— ESPN (@espn) January 22, 2020

Dozens of people were in the mix with some assistant coaches failing to break things up, and at one point, De Sousa had a stool over his head like this was WWE before ultimately putting it down.

Kansas coach Bill Self had hoped to talk about freshman guard Christian Braun, who scored 20 points off the bench in the rivalry win. But that changed with the scrum at the end.

When asked about how he reacts to brawls or fights in college basketball and what the general public should think of it, Self didn’t hold back, saying after the game:

“Obviously, it’s an embarrassment. It’s not something that you’d be proud of. What happened is absolutely zero signs of toughness. It’s a sign of immaturity and selfishness more so than it is toughness. So if I was a fan watching, obviously, depending on what your perspective is, there would be nothing about that that would intrigue me to want to watch more.

“At least from what happened tonight, I don’t see anything positive. We’ve seen things like this happen [at] other places, and certainly it gets some attention. And you it’s the exception and not the rule, but still, it’s inexcusable. These things can’t happen. This doesn’t have anything to do with competition. Those were selfish motives on why it took place at the end.”

K-State and KU just got into a FULL BLOWN BRAWL 😳pic.twitter.com/YjyDeNVC8D

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) January 22, 2020

Self explained to reporters that he had seen some video replays of the fight before his press conference, adding he needed to see more before to get a full picture of what went down. However, he said he was there when De Sousa had a stool over his head:

“Regardless of what happened, it’s a terrible image and there certainly will be consequences for that.”

Self also didn’t like how the brawl spilled into the stands. He said he hadn’t heard of any fans being injured in the incident — though he acknowledged he’s the wrong person to ask.

“It happened in handicapped seating. So at least if you’re going to do something, at least take it on the court or whatever. It’s ridiculous that they would go into the stands.”

De Sousa blocking Gordon’s shot was “fair game,” Self said, but he added that “regardless of how it got started, that’s no way for mature men to act.”

He also said once he figures out who did what, his players will be reprimanded:

“That was an embarrassment on our part for the role that we played in it, and there will be consequences that I’m sure I’ll announce [Wednesday] for that role as soon as I’m able to study it and come to grips with all of it.”

After things calmed down, officials determined there was actually still one second left on the clock, Self said, and gave De Sousa a taunting technical and ejected everyone on both teams’ benches.

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