• Myron Medcalf, ESPN Staff WriterJul 30, 2024, 09: 23 AM ET

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    • Contains college sports
    • Visited ESPN.com in 2011
    • Student of Minnesota State University, Mankato

In sports, if Louisville and Kentucky are on the court, theatre will probably result.

That held real Monday evening, when a match at The Basketball Tournament between La Familia, a group comprised of former Kentucky people, and The Ville, a group featuring former Louisville gamers, ended with a near-brawl following a spitting event.

Andrew Harrison, who helped lead Kentucky to the 2014 and 2015 Final Four, hit the game-winning 3-pointer in La Familia’s 70-61 victory ( Elam ending ) at Freedom Hall in Louisville. The crowd of 13, 506 nearly doubled the previous record (7, 202 ) for the winner-take-all$ 1 million tournament.

During the party, La Familia’s Nate Sestina, who led all performers with 22 points, embraced The Ville’s Chinanu Onuaku, who told Sestina to quit using the” L’s down” movement to insult Louisville.

Onuaku, per video of the incident, told Sestina,” Do n’t do that again”, before he spat in his face.

” Thoughts ran high”, said Sestina, who confirmed that Onuaku had spat at him. ” That’s what this sport does to people. It had been great talk the entire game, little crazy, nothing personal. And then it got individual, naturally. That’s what this sport is”.

As security guards and police officials intervened to stop further increase, people from both teams finally began kicking and pushing one another.

Onuaku apologized on social media on Tuesday.

Following next night’s game, Onuaku apologized for his behavior on X. In the moment, I let my feelings of pride and honor for my school rule. I adore this city and my University of Louisville. L’s up”.

The most recent blunder in the conflict was this.

Former Kentucky manager Eddie Sutton again called Louisville “little nephew” during an interview. In 1989, Louisville’s Boo Brewer caught Kentucky’s Sean Woods underneath the box and tossed him over his head. Additionally, Rick Pitino, who has won national championships at both schools, was coaching the Cardinals at Rupp Arena when he was accused of making an offensive move as he left the court ( Pitino denied it ).

On Monday, past NBA stars were on both sides. Montrezl Harrell, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022-23, led a Louisville group that also featured Peyton Siva and Russ Smith, two actors on the 2013 national title group. Former NBA people like Willie Cauley-Stein and Eric Bledsoe, who were first-team NBA All-Defensive in 2018 and 2018, were a part of La Familia.

Cauley-Stein, who next played in the NBA during the 2021-22 time, said he agreed to play in TBT because of Monday’s contest with Louisville’s students group.

Cauley-Stein remarked,” I decided to come play because this activity that we just played.” ” This item is unique. I anticipated the sale… That is unlike any other emotion. That experience was lost after ten years. I’m certain that I’ll be able to drive it over the coming days.

La Familia improvements to TBT’s playoffs.

Following the halftime shoving suit, Sestina did n’t back down on his view of the conflict.

” L’s down”, he said. ” Always”.