Arkansas-San Diego State have postgame scuffle at Maui Invitational
The Arkansas Razorbacks capped off a huge overtime victory on Wednesday night, taking third place in the Maui Invitational with a 78-74 win over San Diego State. But with the game ending late into the night, most of the country missed a postgame scuffle involving both teams.
Multiple videos surfaced of the incident between the two teams. One Twitter user that posted two videos of the incident claimed that an Arkansas player and coaching staff members started the scuffle, while Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman said that it was a San Diego State fan that sparked things.
You can see some video of the interaction below. Maui police were called to the scene, according to reports.
“There was just an Aztec fan that came down and said some things,” Musselman said in the postgame news conference, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. “There were words exchanged.”
The tournament itself also put out a statement regarding the incident.
“There was an isolated incident following the game this evening,” the tournament said in a statement, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Security acted quickly and appropriately to immediately remove those involved from the arena.”
It is easy to see how tempers could have boiled over given the ending to the game. San Diego State held a significant lead for most of the game but Arkansas battled back late in the second half. The Razorbacks trailed by 10 with 13:42 to play but a quick run helped them trim the lead down to four points shortly after. Then, trailing by two as the final seconds ticked off, Kamani Johnson tipped the ball in to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Johnson would make another tip shot with just 1:48 left in overtime, taking a three-point Arkansas lead. That was the final time the lead would change, as the Razorbacks then went on to close out the win. San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher also shared his thoughts on the postgame interaction after the loss.
“I don’t know, I don’t know. I was already through (the handshake line),” Dutcher said, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I just tell our kids, I tell them every year, I tell them every month: ‘You represent yourself first, your family second, and this university and athletic program third. Don’t do anything that would embarrass any of us.’ That’s a message I deliver every year to our guys, and I think they do a good job of holding that up. They represent themselves with a lot of class.”
Arkansas’ win improved it to 5-1 on the early season. San Diego State fell to 4-2 with the loss.