Tyler Ulis fires back at Chinanu Onuaku with scathing message after TBT fight

The TBT quarterfinal matchup between the respective alumni teams of Kentucky and Louisville lived up to all the hype and excitement of the old matchups under coaches John Calipari and Rick Pitino.

Those rivalry games had a knack for getting a little too physical, with flagrant fouls, bloody eye sockets, elbows to the head, and a litany of technicals occurring during matchups throughout the 2010s. So, it was no surprise when Monday night’s bout between the alumni squads got heated after the final whistle.

Andrew Harrison saved the day for Kentucky, eliminating any chance of a Louisville comeback with a 3-pointer to hit the Elam Ending mark and send La Familia through over The Ville for a spot in the TBT Final Four. As Harrison, his twin brother, and other La Familia players celebrated, The Ville big man Chinanu Onuaku had an incident with a La Familia player.

He came up to Nate Sestina to tell him to stop throwing the L’s Down hand signal that has become a point of contention between the two programs. When Sestina and the La Familia players continued with the gesture, Onuaku spat in their direction, which led to a shoving match and nearly an all-out fight under the basket inside Freedom Hall.

After the game Onuaku tweeted out the following response to his actions on the court: “I asked him not to do something that disrespects the university I went too and he calls me a b**** but he doesn’t want to talk about that part.”

But the next day, Onuaku issued an apology on Twitter, writing:

“I want to apologize for my actions following last night’s game. I let my emotions and pride for my university overcome me in the moment. I love my UofL and I love this town. L’s up.”

Later Tuesday afternoon, La Familia head coach and former Kentucky point guard, as well as current Arkansas staffer Tyler Ulis responded to the first Onuaku tweet with his own jab back. It said:

“How many did you call him throughout the game? You knew what you was doing, picked the guy who causes no problems. It’s just basketball, tough guys don’t spit on people and then play victim.”

Well, after 13,000+ packed Freedom Hall and the teams even carried then competition past the final horn, it’s safe to say the rivalry juices are still running very high between the ‘Cats and Cards.