Basketball player snaps as opposing fans rush court after upset win
Generally speaking, it is a good thing when a college basketball player is compared to someone in the NBA when talking about his potential draft stock.
This is far less true when the comparison is to Ron Artest, circa 2004.
Wesley Harris of the No. 2 West Virginia Mountaineers threw a punch at a Texas Tech fan who stormed the court after the eighth-ranked Red Raiders’ big win Saturday in Lubbock.
The incident had a certain “Malice in the Palace” meets “Animal House” flavor to it, an uncouth brouhaha that allegedly involved two other Mountaineers also getting into minor donnybrooks with opposing supporters.
Below, you get the slow motion version, where you can more clearly see Harris (21) and Sagaba Konate (50) taking swings like they’re Artest and Stephen Jackson out there:
A West Virginia player threw a punch at a fan after the Texas Tech crowd stormed the court pic.twitter.com/rVfA0J2uRv
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 14, 2018
Then again, there’s two sides to every story, as one Twitter user rather gruffly pointed out that fans have no business storming the court.
Good for you Wesley Harris for punching that fan ! 😂 that’s what he gets for storming the court
— Steven Snedegar (@StevenSned25) January 14, 2018
Which, ultimately, is the Big 12 Conference’s position on the matter as well. The league added a bylaw in 2015 allowing for the league to levy fines against schools or even take away home games for failing to control the crowd and keep them in their seats and off the floor.
And while some would counter that storming the court is a tradition after a big win, the instant counter to that is that it creates a security risk where incidents exactly like this one could occur. Besides, you don’t see this sort of behavior in any pro game, where anyone storming the court is subject to arrest.
The last two times the Big 12 had a problem with fans on the court — after Kansas State beat then-No. 8 Kansas in 2015, and then later that same year when Iowa State fans celebrated a win over Iowa — no significant punishment was meted out.
But in those two incidents, no athletes were caught in the melee, much less threw punches.
If Harris is suspended, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem for the Mountaineers. He averages just 6.2 points per game on a dreadful 32.6 percent shooting and has seen his minutes drastically cut as the conference season gets into full swing.
Konate has a greater role, averaging 8.9 points in 23.2 minutes per game on 49.1 percent shooting. If the Big 12 goes after him, that could pose a greater problem for bench depth come Monday’s game against No. 12 Kansas.
Still, it remains to be seen what punishment awaits both the West Virginia players for throwing punches and the Texas Tech program for failing to keep its fans off the court. There should be plenty of sanctions to go around if the conference cares to impose them.
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