LOOK: Iowa trolls Orange Krush amid controversy after coming back to beat Illinois

It was a week filled with back-and-forth between the Orange Krush — Illinois’ student section — and the Iowa ticket office. Ultimately, the Hawkeyes got the last laugh with a comeback victory over the Fighting Illini.

Then, Payton Sandfort wrote a message for his team afterward.

Sandfort pulled out a marker and wrote “Orange Krushed” on the Smart Board following Iowa’s 81-79 victory over Illinois. It came after the Fighting Illini’s student section saw its 200 tickets voided after it claimed it was the Illinois chapter of the Boys & Girls Club — setting off a war of words between the two sides.

Class Dismissed.@payton_20_ x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/yCSPm68psf

— The Iowa Hawkeyes (@TheIowaHawkeyes) February 4, 2023

Iowa ended up refunding the tickets and donating them to the Boys & Girls Club of Cedar Rapids. The Hawkeyes posted pictures of the group at the game, and they saw a good one as Iowa came back from an eight-point deficit to improve to 7-5 in Big Ten play.

A recap of the Orange Krush vs. Iowa ticket office fiasco

It all started Wednesday when the Orange Krush tweeted a statement calling out the Iowa ticket office for canceling its tickets, which the group said it purchased legally. However, Iowa released a statement saying the Orange Krush claimed it was the Illinois chapter of the Boys & Girls Club, which is why it voided the tickets.

“The Iowa athletics department became aware of a discounted group ticket order for the Illinois-Iowa men’s basketball game on behalf of an Illinois chapter of the Boys & Girls Club,” the statement read. “In following up with that organization, it became clear that this was not factual. When contacting the individual who made the original ticket order, they admitted to falsely ordering tickets under the non-profit organization.”

As it turns out, the Orange Krush typically uses a different name when buying group tickets because it’s an opposing student section, according to vice president Kilton Rauman. It did so to get a group rate — not to get a discount.

“We always use some type of different organization name because in the past, Iowa was the Big Ten school that wouldn’t sell [to] the Orange Krush, which is understandable,” Rauman told News Channel 20’s Dante Furco. “Why would they want to? But we just said we were a Boys & Girls Club when asked what type of group we were. Hadn’t had any follow-up then until yesterday, when they’d already been invalidated. There was no malice towards the Boys & Girls Club at all. We weren’t even trying to use that organization name, really. Just trying to give vague details.

“It’s really unfortunate that it’s gotten spun this way, but we absolutely were not looking for a discount. We simply got a group rate. Didn’t ask for a discount, didn’t even realize we got one. Groups are just charged differently.”

The Illinois student section apologized Friday night

Friday afternoon, the Orange Krush tweeted a new statement apologizing for its role the situation.

“The students of the Orange Krush are among the most passionate fans in the country,” the statement read. “But in planning the Orange Krush road trip, we misrepresented ourselves as another active charitable organization, which exercised poor judgement. This was our mistake and for that we are truly sorry. We also should have never placed blame on the Iowa ticket office and Director of Athletics Gary Barta or called them out for cancelling the tickets. Protection of their home court is, and should be, their priority.

“As a non-profit organization ourselves trying to better the Champaign-Urbana community, we have the greatest respect for organizations who are doing this life-changing work every day. It was never our intention to disparage or lessen their importance. This event has been a valuable learning experience that will help form best practices for Orange Krush classes for years to come. The Orange Krush road trip prank has become a tradition that students and Illini fans look forward to every year. It is our goal to continue the annual road trip in a manner that stays true to the spirit of fun competitions Illinois fans expect.”