Kansas and Kansas State close their rivalry basketball game with a brawl

With less than two seconds remaining in the second half of the college basketball game between rivals Kansas and Kansas State, a fist fight broke out spilling into the sidelines and stands at Allen Fieldhouse and later resulted in several suspensions being issued.

The fight broke out when KU’s Silvio De Sousa blocked K-State’s DaJuan Gordon’s shot and tauntingly hovered over him, costing De Sousa a technical and quickly causing K-State’s James Love to throw a punch from the sideline. Both team’s benches were cleared as other players from both sides joined in.

The altercation entailed punches being thrown, players and spectators being trampled and even DeSousa raising a chair overhead, which he soon after dropped to avoid causing any further damage.

This occurred while coaches Bill Self and Bruce Weber of KU and K-State, respectively, were going in for an end-of-game handshake — causing them to miss the beginning of the fight. 

Self addressed the situation in an interview following the game.

“Without knowing exactly everything that went down, it was obvious to me that we played a role in what transpired and there will be penalties for that,” Self said to ESPN reporters.

Weber also responded to interview questions from ESPN following their loss.

“You win with class you lose with class, it’s disappointing that anything had to happen at the end and that’s all I can say,” Weber said.

The Big 12 Conference later distributed punishments to players involved. De Sousa received a 12-game suspension and teammate David McCormack will be benched from two. K-State players Gordon and James Love were each given an 8-game suspension. 

It is still unclear which team was responsible for the fight, but both teams players and fans believe it was their rival.

Junior Jacob Johnson, a KU fan, watched the chaos break loose on TV and believed K-State to be the cause of the fight.

“When the K-State player decided to steal the ball I feel like De Sousa had every right to block the shot, but I don’t think he should’ve necessarily stood over him after he blocked the shot, ” Johnson said.

K-State fan and junior Sydney Herpich also witnessed the eventful second half through the TV.

“I thought it was unnecessary, K-State is probably more at fault because the players on the bench got involved,” Herpich said.

Because of a new rule issued by the NCAA that says all forty minutes of a game must be played, players were brought back onto the court for a final round of free throws to finish the game after one second was added to the clock following the brawl. Both KU and K-State will face their repercussions but continue to move on throughout the season.