Friday’s college basketball game between East Tennessee State and Virginia Military Institute quickly turned ugly after the final buzzer. The Keydets did not appreciate how the Buccaneers handled themselves at the end of a dominant first round win at the Southern Conference tournament.
Multiple players on both teams had to be restrained by their teammates and coaches. A few of them even ended up on the ground as a result of some pushing and shoving!
Fortunately, things got back under control before they escalated into something more violent and potentially dangerous.
“And there’s a fight! The tempers, overflowing. They are angry. They know they have lost. And what a bitter defeat.” @ETSU_MBB pic.twitter.com/FmNatFpGo7
— Marcus Brooks (@WXBQMarcus) March 9, 2024
The incident stemmed from a three-point shot as time expired. It did not go over well with the losing side.
ETSU jumped out to a 42-31 lead at halftime and never took the foot off of the gas en route to a 98-66 victory. Sophomore forward Braden Ilic knocked down a triple as time expired. He his three-point shot went in with two seconds left on the clock.
VMI did not appreciate his late-game bucket. Keydets head coach Andrew Wilson made that abundantly clear to Bucs head coach Brooks Savage during a lengthy conversation during the postgame handshake line. Meanwhile, chaos broke out between the two groups of college basketball players.
They immediately got into it after some pleasantries were exchanged as they made their way off of the court. Ilic’s three-pointer was perceived as disrespect. To VMI, which won just four games all year, it was the salt in the wound.
A fight broke out postgame between ETSU and VMI.
— Jack Gold (@JGoldHoops) March 9, 2024
Andrew Wilson had a long conversation with Brooks Savage after the Bucs took/knocked down a three as time expired while leading by nearly 30 points.
Players then got into it after Savage walked away from the conversation. pic.twitter.com/h5yDPmdFn4
While the Keydets’ frustrations are easy to understand, my counterpoint would be simple. If they didn’t want the Bucs’ bench to hit a late three, they should have prevented them from doing so.
Clearly, VMI would not agree with that logic. I don’t blame them. Losing 28 games is brutal. To have your college basketball season end on a three-point dagger that caps a 33-point loss is demoralizing.
They finally showed some fight, but it was too little too late. The game was already over…