• Slug: Sports–Hurley Reaction. 850 words.
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By Tucker L. Sennett
Cronkite News

TEMPE – Rivalries breed tension and hostility in every sport at every level. The rivalry between Arizona State University and the University of Arizona is no different. Tensions reached a boiling point in the final minutes of Saturday’s matchup between the men’s basketball teams.

The events at the end of the matchup saw ASU coach Bobby Hurley face a slew of negative publicity and the ire of social media users. On Tuesday morning, Hurley appeared on the Bickley and Marotta Show on 98.7 Arizona Sports and took time to state his regrets about the events that unfolded at Desert Financial Arena.

“Once I got the starters off the floor and got them toward the locker room and knew that my entire team was gone, I should have walked over and shook (Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd’s) hand,” Hurley said. “My thoughts were very preoccupied with my team and how they were feeling.

“If I could do anything over, I would have done that. Tommy and I spoke and we discussed the end of the game and we’re good … we’re on really good terms and we always have been.”

The unfortunate series of events that forced Hurley’s pseudo-apology punctuated a testy afternoon in Tempe. ASU senior guard BJ Freeman struggled to stop Arizona fifth-year guard Caleb Love the entirety of the game, with the latter scoring 27 points in the Wildcats’ 81-72 win over the Sun Devils. Freeman, frustrated by the game and — according to Bobby Hurley — Love’s trash talking, snapped and headbutted Love in the chest. Both players were ejected from the game.

Before the final buzzer, Hurley made the unusual decision to pull his team off the court and sent them directly to the locker room. He appeared to wave off Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, creating a tense postgame atmosphere that caught the attention of fans, alumni and media members across the country.

“If you were right near our bench, it was relentless, constant chatter from a couple of the Arizona players that was not being policed properly,” Hurley said postgame. “Of course they’re going to be happy about winning, but it was done with no class in my opinion.

“I had to make a tough decision to … get them into the locker room so there’d be no further incidents the rest of the game and in the handshake line.”

Emotions were high on both sides. Hurley’s decision, coupled with the loss, sparked vitriolic social media responses, especially from former Wildcats star Richard Jefferson. The ESPN personality took to X after the win, writing “Hey Bobby, you still acting like a (Clown emoji). He’s always been this way from my days working at the PAC-12. Feel free to share with him.”

Jefferson posted six tweets about Hurley, even joking that ASU should give Hurley a “lifetime contract.” Jefferson even took time to poke back at ASU color commentator and basketball alumni Kyle Dodd.

While Arizona’s basketball program certainly carries more pull nationally, the Sun Devil program gained some spotlight due to the combination of Hurley’s impressive recruiting class, the team’s move to the Big 12 and the huge swell of media coverage in Tempe following the football program’s meteoric rise to national prominence under coach Kenny Dillingham.

With the game airing on CBS, the network’s Bill Raftery said “this is not pretty” on the broadcast as the chaos unfolded.

That sentiment carried over into the press conference for Hurley, who stormed out alluding to the fact that he would not use his Big 12 All-Conference vote on Love at the end of the season.

ASU veteran guard Adam Miller had the task of speaking to the media after Hurley’s postgame tirade. Miller chose not to comment on the events that transpired during the final seconds. However, he opened a window into many of the issues that have plagued the Sun Devils this season.

“In my college career, I’ve had great coaches and I’ve had great leaders,” Miller said. “I’m going to sit my teammates down and we’re going to have a meeting.”

Miller reiterated that it would be a players-only meeting Sunday.

As for Arizona’s reaction, Lloyd remained respectful after the final buzzer sounded.

“It’s a tough moment in an emotional game and I have a lot of respect for Bobby (Hurley) and Arizona State and his guys played their a – – – – off today,” Lloyd said. “We like playing these guys because it’s fun and it’s great for the state of Arizona.”

The frustrated Sun Devils sit at 12-9 overall and 3-7 in the conference but remain on the bubble in the first four teams out of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, according to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi.

Tuesday’s game against a surging Kansas State team will give Hurley and Co. an opportunity to put the incidents of Saturday’s matchup behind.

“Everybody can keep talking about it or I’m sure there’s something else that will hit the news cycle … we’ll play someone else and Arizona will as well,” Hurley said. “Everyone will move until the next time we dance in Tucson.”

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