Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley on why he had players skip handshake line vs Arizona
The Arizona State-Arizona basketball rivalry matchup on Saturday ended with some fireworks and controversy.
Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley sent his bench players to the locker room with 30 seconds left in the game. The teams agreed to skip the postgame handshake line after the Wildcats' Caleb Love and Sun Devils' BJ Freeman were ejected with less than a minute left in Arizona's 81-72 win at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Arizona.
After the ejections, Arizona State HC Bobby Hurley had his players on the bench go to the locker room with 30 seconds remaining; he -- and the players on the floor -- went to the locker room right when the game ended. No handshakes.
Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery with the CBS call. https://t.co/adptyYKEWk pic.twitter.com/uL6aJh7wbI— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 1, 2025
Following the game, Hurley was asked about his decision to forgo the handshake line and get his team out of a heated situation. Hurley pointed to the "constant chatter" coming from Arizona players.
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"If you were right near our bench, it was relentless, constant chatter from a couple of Arizona players that was not being policed properly," Hurley said postgame. "Of course, they are going to be happy with winning, but it was done with no class, in my opinion. The words that were said back and forth led to the moment where Freeman lost it and lost his cool because of the constant talk that was allowed to go on.
"I had to make a tough decision in the best interest of our team to get them off the court and to the locker room so there would be no further incident the rest of the game and in the handshake line.
"I just saw it was very heated and the possibility something else could happen and I was going to avoid that. I wanted to avoid any further confrontation at the end of the game," Hurley added.
Bobby Hurley on the late game altercation between BJ Freeman and Caleb Love and why he opted for his team not to go through the postgame handshake line: pic.twitter.com/cdLnp6o2xJ
— Jordan Hamm (@JordyHamm) February 1, 2025
Look: Caleb Love, BJ Freeman ejected
Love was initially ejected after he retaliated, but replays showed Freeman headbutted Love first, which also led to his ejection.
Arizona's Caleb Love and Arizona State's BJ Freeman were ejected during the final minute of Saturday's game.
Love was initially the only one ejected, but after replays showed Freeman headbutted Love, Freeman was ejected as well. pic.twitter.com/x5BuwSrKxI— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 1, 2025
Hurley clearly took issue with Love's actions, stating during postgame availability: "I get a vote for [Big 12] All-Conference, and I can tell you who's not getting my vote"
The teams are scheduled to face off again on March 4.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bobby Hurley explains why he had Arizona State players leave court early