In the aftermath of the already infamous Cincinnati/Xavier brawl, along with the post-game press conference where an XU player proudly exclaimed his locker room being filled with gangsters (he meant ‘tough guys’), MSF presents the ten top fights/brawls/confrontations in college basketball history.
You won’t see this on TruTV, at least not yet. But Tonya Harding is more than welcome to add her commentary at any time…
10. Wyoming v. New Mexico (2007)
The Lobos athletic program has had a few infamous moments over the past few years.
Football coach Mike Locksley fought with one of his assistants during his tenure, which gave him one fight versus two wins in his 2+ seasons on the job. And then there was soccer player Elizabeth Lambert making national news after pulling an opponent down by her ponytail, among other offenses.
Then there is the basketball team.
In a season that would eventually see coach Ritchie McKay fired (and replaced by Steve Alford), frustration boiled over in a game versus Wyoming in which UNM actually won. WYO guards Brandon Ewing and teammate Brad Jones, along with New Mexico guard Jamaal Smith, were ejected after this fracas with 1:10 remaining.
After the game, WYO coach Steve McClain argued with a Lobos fan as he headed up the tunnel, then as he headed towards the visiting locker room makes reference to the New Mexico Pit saying, “Real class place this is.”
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9. Providence’s Jeff Xavier (and his brother) v Officials/Marquette (2009)
Not exactly a brawl, just surreal.
Driving towards the basket, Jeff Xavier takes an inadvertent elbow under the eye during a home Big East game versus Marquette. A foul is subsequently called but against another player seconds later. Xavier is tended to on the floor before making it to his bench with a towel as his teammate is about to shoot free throws.
At this point, Jeff Xavier’s older brother emerges from the stands, casually climbs over Providence’s bench, and ends up confronting the officials before security finally wakes up and escorts him off the floor. At this point (while being led to the locker room for repairs), Jeff Xavier takes his brother’s cue and starts hollering at the Marquette players.
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8. KU basketball v. KU football (2009)
Newly hired KU football coach Charlie Weis was in attendance at Allen Fieldhouse over the weekend for KU’s basketball game versus Ohio State. Hopefully that can be signaled as some sort of peace offering because the Jayhawk football and basketball programs have not always gotten along.
In September 2009, the KU grid and hoops squads clashed not once, but twice within a 24-hour period.
The first incident ended with guard Tyshawn Taylor suffering a dislocated thumb in a brawl involving as many as a 100 people. Members from both squads got into it again the next morning at a dorm, where one of the Morris twins was accused of throwing one of his football brethren down a flight of stairs. The KU basketball staff eventually arrived at the scene and escorted it’s players off in a white van.
7. Mississippi State teammates fight in stands (December, 2010)
Sophomore forward Renaldo Sidney had just come off suspension and scored 19 points in a win over the San Diego Toreros in a holiday tournament in Hawaii earlier in the day. The squad was now kicking back watching warmups for the Hawaii versus Utah game when Sidney and teammate Elgin Bailey suddenly got into a fight with several punches thrown before teammates separated the parties.
Sidney was a highly-touted prep star who had to sit out his freshman year due to eligibility issues and had also been suspended by the team prior to this dustup. Surprisingly, both players were reinstated a little more than a week later, but Elgin Bailey eventually opted to transfer from the program. A day prior in Hawaii, Sidney had gotten into yet another dustup during a team practice.
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6. Kansas v. Missouri (1961)
Incredibly good video/audio of this incident, which concluded when the band gets the attention of players/fans by starting to play the national anthem. The PBP announcer suggests that the hostilities may had been a carryover from the football season.
So THERE was a time where KU basketball stood up for KU football.
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5. Baylor’s Brittney Griner v. Texas Tech’s Jordan Barncastle (2010)
At 6’8” Griner is one of the most intimidating presences in women’s college basketball. In a late-2010 game v. Texas Tech, Griner threw a haymaker that broke the nose of Texas Tech’s Jordan Barncastle.
Griner was given an automatic-one game suspension from the NCAA and an additional one-game suspension by the university.
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4. North Carolina v. Duke (1961)
It must had been an epidemic in ’61. Check out Cameron Indoor Stadium back in the day and the cheerleaders.
Until this incident, Duke v. Carolina was actually a bigger rivalry in football. The events of this game, however, helped turn the schools’ basketball rivalry into what it is today.
In the middle of a controversy was a star Jewish player from New York City named Art Heyman, who had intended to attend UNC but was eventually recruited away from Duke and got his first taste of what UNC thought of him during a 1960 freshman game, which started with slurs from Tar Heels fans and ended with Heyman getting cold-cocked.
The following year the teams played at Cameron Indoor. The freshman game preceded the varsity, and ended with a lopsided Duke win and just three UNC players left on the floor due to ejections and players fouling out. Late in the varsity game, Heyman delivers a hard foul on former friend Larry Brown of UNC and all hell breaks loose. Carolina reserve Donnie Walsh, a future NBA exec, runs off the bench to give a cheap shot at Heyman as fans poured from the stands. Before it was over, players were fighting fans and fans were fighting fans.
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3. Georgetown, Big Trouble in China (2011)
What was supposed to be a goodwill tour turned into an ugly international incident.
A game versus the Bayi Military Rockets turned into a wild scene that featured at least a half-dozen separate fights and players even throwing chairs. The incident occurred a night after Vice President Joe Biden had attended a game featuring the Hoyas and another Chinese club.
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2. Cincinnati/Xavier (December, 2011)
There was potential for things getting explosive early on, as XU fans got on Cincy’s Sean Kilpatrick, who had boasted earlier in the week that Xavier star Tu Holloway would not start at CU. All of this escalated into the frightening scene that occurred in the final seconds.
And it wasn’t like Yancy Gates just lost his temper. His actions, boxing poses and all, were very reminiscent of LeGarrette Blount in football on Byron Hout a couple years back. He knew what he was doing.
In the two days since, we heard strong words from Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin against his own team, followed by pathetically light suspensions to the central figures of the brawl by both universities.
That was followed by an emotional apology by Gates in a Monday afternoon presser, with Cincinnati law enforcement now mulling criminal charges against the players involved.
1. Ohio State/Minnesota (1972)
As ugly as XU/Cincy was, it is still child’s play compared to the assault against Ohio State Buckeyes players in the closing minutes of a game at Williams Arena 40 years ago.
Ohio State’s Luke Witte was fouled hard going to the rack. What happened next is still the bar in which college basketball ugliness is compared. Witte was helped to his feet by Minnesota’s Corky Taylor, only for Taylor to then knee Witte in the groin.
Another Gophers player then rushes to the bench to stomp the defenseless Witte in the head while a Buckeye in his warmups is also jumped on attempting to come to Witte’s defense. Meanwhile, yet another Ohio State player is jumped by a Minnesota player by the name of Dave Winfield. (Yes, that Dave Winfield.)
When the dust cleared, Witte had to spend the night in an ICU unit while the other two Ohio State players who were beaten were also taken to hospitals, while the rest of the team left Williams Arena under a police escort. It was said that Minnesota coach Bill Musselman had created a “thuggish culture” with his team, which led to the actions out of his team that night.
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Did we miss any? If there are any college basketbrawls that you think should be included, link to them below. And then let’s hope there is nothing else to add to this list for a long, long, long time.
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