NCAA coach suffers injury while trying to break up on-court fight
Arizona State started the college basketball season on fire, winning its first 12 games — including victories over two possible No. 1 seeds, Xavier and Kansas.
The Sun Devils were the nation’s last unbeaten team when they fell to rival Arizona on Dec. 30.
That brought on a cold spell, however, that saw ASU finish the regular season with eight wins against 10 losses.
The Sun Devils hoped to thaw out in the Pac-12 tournament Wednesday, when they took on 16-14 Colorado — but instead found themselves getting beat and possibly pushed onto the NCAA tournament bubble.
The Buffaloes, led by talented freshman point guard McKinley Wright IV, knocked off ASU 97-85 in the first-round game.
Late in the fourth quarter, after the Sun Devils had freed up Colorado to wind down the shot clock, Wright instead drove to the lane and set up an alley-oop dunk for forward Tyler Bey.
That’s when ASU’s weeks of frustration bubbled over.
Sun Devils guard Tra Holder shoved Bey to the ground, and several other players started scuffling.
Buffs coach Tad Boyle ran onto the court to try to break things up, but after a few steps he started limping.
Tad Boyle appeared to get injured while responding to a scuffle during CU-ASU pic.twitter.com/YIxy7RRpgt
— Andrew Joseph (@AndyJ0seph) March 7, 2018
He hobbled to the bench and was clearly in pain.
“I felt like I got shot in the calf,” Boyle said after the game.
Crazy CRAZY situation at the end of the #Buffs vs #ASU game… flagrant 2, ejection and Tad Boyle apparently hurting himself trying to break everything up #Pac12Hoops pic.twitter.com/wI0EaFcv18
— Andy Mac (@AndyMacSports) March 7, 2018
The broadcast team speculated that he might have torn his Achilles. The coach said he hoped that wasn’t the case, but added, “It’s a tough blow, tough one. I’ll take it. I’ll sacrifice my Achilles for the win.”
Fortunately, the Colorado team doctors later told Boyle he had injured his calf muscle.
.@CUBuffsMBB head coach Tad Boyle gives an update on an injury he sustained late in the Buffs' first round #Pac12Hoops Tournament game vs. Arizona State. pic.twitter.com/IybLr7kKGO
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) March 8, 2018
Wright finished with 20 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for the Buffs, who will face No. 15 Arizona in the Pac-12 quarterfinals.
The Sun Devils, meanwhile, have to hope their early season resume-building will be enough to get them into the NCAA tournament.
“I felt like we were in the tournament coming into this game regardless of the outcome,” Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley told reporters after the game. “We were the last undefeated team in college basketball. We went and played high-level opponents on the road and on neutrals.”
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