Bobby Hurley blames Arizona players, referees for end of game headbutt, ejections, skipping handshakes

Both BJ Freeman and Caleb Love were ejected in the final minutes of Arizona‘s 81-72 rivalry win over Arizona State on Saturday. When the final buzzer sounded, the Sun Devils headed straight to the locker room and neither the team, nor the coaches shook hands afterward.

ASU head coach Bobby Hurley explained his decision to keep the two teams separated during his postgame press conference, while also addressing Freeman’s actions.

“If you were right near our bench, it was relentless, constant chatter from a couple of the Arizona players that was not being policed properly,” Hurley said. “And of course, they were happy with winning, but it was done with with no class, in my opinion. And words that were said back and forth led to the moment where Freeman lost his cool because of the constant talk that was allowed to go on.

“I had to make a tough decision to, obviously, in the best interest of our team to get into the locker room so there would be no further incidents.”

Based on Hurley’s explanation, it appears as Freeman’s actions was the culmination of the frustration much of the team felt throughout the game.

The play saw Freeman get called for a technical foul immedietely after the incident, and it escalated from there. Love had to be restrained by his teammates while arguing his case with the officials. Eventually, the two sides were separated and the officials went and reviewed the play. After reviewing the play, the officials deemed it necessary to toss both players for their actions.

Freeman did all he could to help his team win, scoring 19 points on 4 of 10 shooting from deep but in the end was not enough to win the game. Meanwhile, Love scored a game-high 27 points having made five 3-pointers along with seven assists and six rebounds before getting tossed in the waning moments of the rivalry game.

The victory continues a trend for the fifth-year senior, who has scored at least 22 points in three of Arizona’s last four games. That included hitting a 55-foot prayer to send the game vs. No. 3 Iowa State this week to overtime. He’d hit a couple of 3-pointers in overtime to help lead Arizona to a 86-75 win in OT.

Arizona has now won 11 of its last 12 games dating back to the middle of December. The win improved them to 9-1 in Big 12 play, and are in sole possession of second place behind Houston in the current conference standings.