Missouri's Caleb Grill ejected after heated exchange with official
Caleb Grill is heading to showers early tonight. During Missouri’s matchup against Minnesota on Thursday, the graduate student was tossed from the game for making contact with an official.
With just over 13 minutes left in the second half, Grill rose up for a 3-pointer from the right wing. Upon the miss, Grill fell to the ground, claiming the defender made contact with him. After slapping the ground, Grill stood up and began to argue with the referee.
Before the referee could take another step, Grill brushed against him. Without hesitation, the referee tossed Grill from the game. Before being ejected, Grill recorded two points, four rebounds and four assists while shooting just 1-6 from the floor and 0-4 from beyond the arc.
Grill has had an inefficient start to the season. Through three games, the 6-foot-3 guard is averaging 9.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game but only connecting on 31.8% of his field-goal attempts and 25% of his attempts from range.
Caleb Grill’s wild collegiate journey
Missouri is Grill’s third program in his collegiate career. The Kansas native began his career at Iowa State. However, after just one season, Grill transferred to UNLV for his sophomore year. Grill started all 27 games for the team and averaged 9.1 points per game.
Despite a solid season, Grill hit the road again, landing back where he started. Grill played another two seasons for Iowa State, where he exceeded in his senior campaign. In the 2022-23 season, Grill average 9.5 points per game while connecting on 36.8 percent of his 3-point attempts, ranking 11th in the Big 12.
Nonetheless, it still wasn’t Grill’s personal paradise. After suffering an injury, Grill was put on several medications. He attempted to fight through the pain, but it only made things worse. In March, Grill was dismissed from the program for an undisclosed reason.
By May, he had signed with Missouri. According to the St. Louis Dispatch, Grill is happy to be with the program.
“It’s been a struggle being back home because I’m just grinding, I’m trying to get healthy,” Grill said. “It’s just been so long since I’ve been on the court and around coaches and teammates, and I’m just really excited to be back around that.”
Although Grill won’t return against Minnesota, his team will need him moving forward. On Sunday, the Tigers will go head-to-head against Jackson State at 6 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.