Rick Barnes calls for rule change after Tennessee, Kentucky fight on bench

A fight broke out on the Kentucky bench during the first half against Tennessee on Tuesday night. The series of events started with Volunteers forward John Fulkerson stumbling into the row of Kentucky bench players and ended with multiple technical fouls issued.

Rick Barnes spoke after the game about what he saw happen on the Kentucky bench and why Zakai Zeigler received a technical foul. He also revealed an in-game conversation with lead official Doug Shows.

“Well they called a technical foul on Zakai (Zeigler),” Barnes said during his press conference. “But he got into it with a trainer, who I think pushed – or said something – there. And I actually said to Doug (Shows), I said, ‘it’s not a really good rule. Our player gets a technical foul, and their – what do you do for the trainer?’ And he said, ‘well, that’s something the rules committee needs to talk about.’ They really do. I told him, ‘if that’s the way it’s going to be, I’m going to get my trainer involved in every game. Try to get technical fouls on the other team if I can.’ But they did – they went and looked at it – and they did what they have to do. It happens, but that was the explanation.”

The serious situation between an assistant and player must be addressed before more situations like it arise. Obviously, the hope remains that coaches will not employ the tactics Barnes mentioned on Tuesday night.

More on technical foul

After saving a ball from going out of bounds, John Fulkerson toward a defender before crashing into the Kentucky bench. He evidently took issue with the reaction of at least one person as he fell onto the ground, talking to the row of coaches and players before reinforcements arrived.

As more people piled into the corner, the mob made its way toward the tunnel and officials rushed to separate players from each other and stop the ongoing trash talk. As Fulkerson emerged from the group with his hands in the air, several other Tennessee players did the same on their way back to the court.

Officials ended up handing technical fouls to Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler and the Kentucky bench, although that foul did not go toward an ejection for the assistant who was involved. Head coach John Calipari was already working with one technical after arguing an early foul call against center Oscar Tshiebwe.