Bobby Hurley takes parting shot, vows to not vote Caleb Love for All-Big 12 after BJ Freeman headbutt

Following a high-tempered finish to Saturday’s rivalry game against Arizona, Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley made his thoughts clear in the postgame press conference on the incident involving BJ Freeman and Caleb Love. As he ended, though, he said Love wouldn’t get his vote for all-conference.

Love and Freeman were both ejected with 30 seconds left in Saturday’s rivalry game. Afterward, Arizona State’s players left the bench early and Hurley refused to shake Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd’s hand after the Wildcats got the 81-72 victory.

Love was initially the only one ejected from the game, but the officials also tossed Freeman after review. Regardless, Hurley ended his media session with a vow not to vote Love for All-Big 12.

“I will tell you this,” Hurley said. “I do get a vote for all-conference, and I can tell you who’s not getting a vote.”

After the game, Hurley explained why he pulled the players off the bench early. He cited “constant chatter” from Arizona, and he was hoping to avoid escalating things in the handshake line.

“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. “Of course, they’re going to be happy with winning. But it was done with no class, in my opinion. 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 into the locker room so there’d be no further incidents the rest of the game.”

With the loss, Arizona State continues its struggles through its first Big 12 schedule. The Sun Devils are now 3-7 in league play and 12-9 overall in a year that began with plenty of pressure around Bobby Hurley, On3’s Pete Nakos reported.

Love scored a game-high 27 points, drilling five 3-pointers, to go with with seven assists and six rebounds before getting tossed in the waning moments of the rivalry game. Freeman, meanwhile, also had a big day for Arizona State. He dropped 19 points while adding three rebounds and three assists before his early exit.

Arizona has now won 11 of its last 12 games dating back to the middle of December. The win improved the Wildcats to 9-1 in Big 12 play, and they’re in sole possession of second place behind Houston in the current conference standings. Arizona will look to keep things going Tuesday against BYU in another intriguing conference matchup.

Barkley Truax contributed.