Players Suspended After Kansas-Kansas State Brawl
A fracas spilled from the court into fan seating. No one appeared to be hurt.
The scene at the end of the Kansas State-Kansas rivalry game on Tuesday night was chaotic, as a brawl spilled into the crowd and a player briefly brandished a stool.
But the scene a few minutes later might have been even more unusual, as 10 players trooped back onto the court after initially leaving, just to play the last one-tenth of a second of a blowout that ended with Kansas winning, 81-60, in Lawrence, Kan.
The trouble started with five seconds remaining and Kansas’ Silvio De Sousa dribbling out the clock, which was hardly a surprise as host Kansas was ranked No. 3 and Kansas State had a losing record at 8-9.
DaJuan Gordon of Kansas State jumped in for a steal and headed to the basket for a last-second layup. De Sousa chased him down and blocked the layup from behind. When he was done, he stood over the fallen Gordon and had a word with him.
That sparked shoving and punching, and both benches cleared. Fans seated in the area behind the basket scrambled away to avoid getting caught up in the fracas. At one point, De Sousa picked up a stool and held it over his head, although in the end no one seemed to be hurt.
On Wednesday, hours after Kansas said that De Sousa would be suspended indefinitely while a review was conducted, the Big 12 Conference said that it would force De Sousa to miss a dozen games.
“I displayed highly unacceptable behavior that was a poor representation of my team as well as my own character,” De Sousa said in a statement on Wednesday. “I messed up and I am sorry.”
All 10 players on the floor at the time of the incident were ejected, although that penalty seemed insubstantial as there was so little time left on the clock.
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